sibilant
sibilants; sibilantly
Something that’s sibilant has a hissing sound, like when the librarian says, “Shhhhhhhh!”
Sibilant entered English in the 17th century from the Latin word sibilant-, meaning “hissing.” When you listen to a foreign language that’s full of hissy “es” or “sh” or “zzz” sounds, those sounds are called sibilants. The sound is made by forcing air out toward your teeth. Try it: say “sash.” That’s a sibilant. As an adjective, use sibilant to describe something characterized by that hissing sound. Your sibilant whisper probably will be heard by the librarian.
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of speech sounds produced by forcing air through a constricted passage (as `f', `s', `z', or `th' in both `thin' and `then')
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synonyms:
continuant, fricative, spirant, strident
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soft
(of speech sounds); produced with the back of the tongue raised toward the hard palate; characterized by a hissing or hushing sound (as `s' and `sh')
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soft
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a consonant characterized by a hissing sound (like s or sh)
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synonyms:
sibilant consonant
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type of:
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fricative, fricative consonant, spirant
a continuant consonant produced by breath moving against a narrowing of the vocal tract
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fricative, fricative consonant, spirant
Vocabulary lists containing sibilant
After receiving a curse that causes her to slowly transform into a demon with a deadly touch, Miuko embarks on a quest to find a cure so that she can return to her normal life.
Ahead of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, Jewish teenage boys begin to disappear from the city's streets. After his best friend goes missing, Alter must race to solve the mystery before he becomes the killer's next victim.
Based loosely on the classic I, Claudius by Robert Graves, this novel follows Claudia McCarthy's rise to power in the Honors Council and Student Senate at Imperial Day Academy.
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