# consonant
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English consonant or consonaunt, from Old French consonant, from Latin cōnsonāns (“sounding with”), from the prefix con- (“with”) + the present participle sonāns (“sounding”), from sonāre (“to sound”). The Latin is a calque of Ancient Greek σύμφωνον (súmphōnon).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kŏn'sənənt, IPA: /ˈkɒn.sə.nənt/
* (US) enPR: kän's(ə)nənt, IPA: /ˈkɑn.sə.nənt/, /ˈkɑns.nənt/
** Audio (Midland US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒnsənənt, -ɑnsənənt, -ɑnsnənt

### Noun

consonant (plural consonants)
* (phonetics) A sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.
    Hyponym: obstruent
* A letter representing the sound of a consonant.
** 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
** 1908 February 19, Jack London, chapter 4, in The Iron Heel, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC:“Tell me, has right anything to do with the law?” I asked. “You have used the wrong initial consonant,” he smiled in answer. “Might?” I queried; and he nodded his head.

#### Derived terms

* consonantary
* consonant cluster
* consonant gradation
* consonanthood
* consonantic
* consonantism
* consonantize
* consonantless
* consonantly
* consonantness
* consonant rhyme
* consonant stem
* contoid
* inconsonant
* linking consonant
* nasal consonant
* nonconsonant
* semiconsonant
* unconsonant

#### Descendants

* → Swahili: konsonanti

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Adjective

consonant (comparative more consonant, superlative most consonant)
* Consistent, harmonious, compatible, or in agreement.
** 1710, William Beveridge, The true nature of the Christian church, the office of its ministers, and the means of grace administred by them explain'd. In twelve sermons:Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used.
** 1900, Sabine Baring-Gould, “The Rev. Mr. Carter, Parson-Publican”, in Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events:Cheerfulness, even gaiety, is consonant with every species of virtue and practice of religion, and I think it inconsistent only with impiety and vice.
** 1946, United States Supreme Court, Pennekamp v. Florida 328 U.S. 331,334
    This essential right of the courts to be free of intimidation and coercion was held to be consonant with a recognition that freedom of the press must be allowed in the broadest scope compatible with the supremacy of order.
* Having the same sound.
** 1645-1650, James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae
    consonant words and syllables
* (music) Harmonizing together; accordant.
    consonant tones; consonant chords
* Of or relating to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.
** 1813, Thomas Moore, Intercepted Letters, or the Two-Penny Post-Bag:No Russian whose dissonant consonant name / Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.

#### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:consonant.

#### Antonyms

* disconsonant
* dissonant
* discordant

#### Related terms

* consonance
* consonantal

#### Translations
### See also

* vowel
* semivowel
* consonant on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

## Aragonese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnsonantem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /konsoˈnan/
* Rhymes: -an
* Syllabification: con‧so‧nant

### Adjective

consonant (plural consonants)
* consonant

### Noun

consonant f
* consonant

#### Derived terms

* consonantico

## Catalan
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cōnsonantem. First attested in the 14th century.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [kun.suˈnan]
* IPA: (Balearic, Valencia) [kon.soˈnant]
* Rhymes: -ant

### Adjective

consonant m or f (masculine and feminine plural consonants)
* consonant

### Noun

consonant f (plural consonants)
* consonant

#### Derived terms

* consonàntic

### References

* ↑ “consonant”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025

### Further reading

* “consonant” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “consonant” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “consonant” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## French
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adjective

consonant (feminine consonante, masculine plural consonants, feminine plural consonantes)
* consonant

### Further reading

* “consonant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkon.so.nant/, [ˈkõːs̠ɔnän̪t̪]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈkon.so.nant/, [ˈkɔnsonän̪t̪]

### Verb

cōnsonant
* third-person plural present active indicative of cōnsonō

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin consonans or French consonant.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /kon.soˈnant/

### Adjective

consonant m or n (feminine singular consonantă, masculine plural consonanți, feminine and neuter plural consonante)
* consonant

#### Declension
### Further reading

* consonant in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)