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The sibilant s is the most difficult sound to correct.
Christine Baranski

Meaning of "sibilant" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD SIBILANT

From Latin sībilāre to hiss, of imitative origin; compare Greek sizein to hiss.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF SIBILANT

sibilant  [ˈsɪbɪlənt] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SIBILANT

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Sibilant can act as a noun and an adjective.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES SIBILANT MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Sibilant

Sibilance is a manner of articulation of fricative and affricate consonants, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together; a consonant that uses sibilance may be called a sibilant. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words sip, zip, ship, chip, and Jeep, and the second consonant in vision. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet used to denote the sibilant sounds in these words are, respectively, . Sibilants have a characteristically intense sound, which accounts for their non-linguistic use in getting one's attention. In the alveolar hissing sibilants and, the back of the tongue forms a narrow channel to focus the stream of air more intensely, resulting in a high pitch. With the hushing sibilants, such as English, , , and, the tongue is flatter, and the resulting pitch lower. Because all sibilants are also stridents, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. However, the terms do not mean the same thing. The English stridents are /f, v, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/.

Definition of sibilant in the English dictionary

The first definition of sibilant in the dictionary is (phonetics) relating to or denoting the consonants (s, z, /(ʃ)/, /(ʒ)/), all pronounced with a characteristic hissing sound. Other definition of sibilant is having a hissing sound. Sibilant is also a sibilant consonant.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SIBILANT


assailant
əˈseɪlənt
bivalent
baɪˈveɪlənt
covalent
kəʊˈveɪlənt
divalent
daɪˈveɪlənt
flagellant
ˈflædʒɪlənt
hexavalent
ˌhɛksəˈveɪlənt
jubilant
ˈdʒuːbɪlənt
monovalent
ˌmɒnəʊˈveɪlənt
multivalent
ˌmʌltɪˈveɪlənt
pentavalent
ˌpɛntəˈveɪlənt
pestilent
ˈpɛstɪlənt
polyvalent
ˌpɒlɪˈveɪlənt
quadrivalent
ˌkwɒdrɪˈveɪlənt
scintillant
ˈsɪntɪlənt
silent
ˈsaɪlənt
surveillant
sɜːˈveɪlənt
tetravalent
ˌtɛtrəˈveɪlənt
trivalent
traɪˈveɪlənt
univalent
ˌjuːnɪˈveɪlənt
vigilant
ˈvɪdʒɪlənt

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SIBILANT

sib
sibb
Sibelius
Siberia
Siberian
Siberian forest cat
Siberian husky
sibilance
sibilancy
sibilantly
sibilate
sibilation
sibilator
sibilatory
sibilous
Sibiu
sibling
sibling rivalry
sibship
sibyl

WORDS THAT END LIKE SIBILANT

coolant
eggplant
galant
gallant
horripilant
hypervigilant
implant
on a slant
oppilant
pasquilant
plant
power plant
repellant
rutilant
sealant
slant
sterilant
stimulant
transplant
volant

Synonyms and antonyms of sibilant in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «sibilant» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SIBILANT

Find out the translation of sibilant to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of sibilant from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «sibilant» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

咝咝声
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

sibilante
570 millions of speakers

English

sibilant
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

ऊष्म
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

صفيري
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

свистящий
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

sibilante
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

হিস্হিস শব্দকর
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

sifflant
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Sibilant
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Zischlaut
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

歯擦音
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

치찰음
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Sibilant
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

kêu như còi
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

சீறொலி
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

Sibilant
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

ıslıklı
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

sibilante
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

syczący
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

свистячий
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

sibilant
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

συριγμό
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

sissende
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

sibilant
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

sibilant
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of sibilant

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SIBILANT»

The term «sibilant» is regularly used and occupies the 79.941 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
63
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «sibilant» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of sibilant
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «sibilant».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SIBILANT» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «sibilant» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «sibilant» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about sibilant

EXAMPLES

QUOTES WITH «SIBILANT»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word sibilant.
1
Christine Baranski
The sibilant s is the most difficult sound to correct.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SIBILANT»

Discover the use of sibilant in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to sibilant and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Phonetic Development of Voiceless Sibilant Fricatives in ...
This dissertation examines the development of voiceless sibilant fricatives in children speaking English, Japanese or Mandarin Chinese.
Fangfang Li, 2009
2
Ways to Better Breathing
The sibilant "S" is a hissing sound produced by letting an exhalation out through your mouth as you curl the sides of your tongue upward to touch your teeth, thus forming a channel for the air to pass through. This passing of air through a small ...
Carola Speads, 1992
3
Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini
sibilant s of the 1-substitute [se for thSs 3.4.30] is not replaced by the retroflex sibilant s; similarly in the Imperative 2nd pers. sing, ni-rh-s-sva. 8.8.59 'a-des-a^ praty-ayay-oh [The substitute retroflex 55 sibilant s 39 replaces non-pada-final 55  ...
Pāṇini, 1987
4
On Language: Selected Writings of Joseph H. Greenberg
with sibilants, followed by a dental and only 3 with the sequence dental- sibilant. Hebrew has no example of a root containing : and a dental in I— II, Syriac only one. This general picture is confirmed for Proto-Semitic. A number of roots can be  ...
Joseph Harold Greenberg, Keith M. Denning, Suzanne Kemmer, 1990
5
Contrast in Phonology: Theory, Perception, Acquisition
Before roots containing sibilants specified as [F], harmony has the effect of removing [G] from (and adding/spreading [F] to) the sibilant of the /si-/ prefix. And before roots containing sibilants specified as [G], harmony must likewise be capable of ...
Peter Avery, B. Elan Dresher, Keren Rice, 2008
6
The Life of Language: Papers in Linguistics in Honor of ...
Sibilant harmony in Ventureno Chumash has been described by John Peabody Harrington (1928, published in 1974), in Barbareno Chumash by Madison Beeler (1970), and in Ineseno Chumash by Richard Applegate (1972). Implications of ...
Jane H. Hill, P. J. Mistry, Lyle Campbell, 1998
7
Historical Romance Linguistics: Retrospective and Perspectives
Internal cues reside during the period of oral constriction of the sibilant, whereas transitional cues are spread across the external context in which the sibilant appears. Table 1: Perceptual cues to phonological sibilant voicing contrast Sibilant ...
Randall Scott Gess, Deborah Arteaga, 2006
8
A Tsilhqtn Grammar
This change is due to voicing and sibilant harmony, which is also responsible for the change of s- to §- in (6.20). Recall that a nonneutral sibilant on the left assimilates to a non-neutral sibilant on the right. The regularity of sibilant harmony is ...
Eung-Do Cook, 2013
9
The Atharva- Veda Prâtiçâkhya Or Çâunakîyâ Caturâdhyâyakâ ...
8, 11) gives as taught by Gakatayana the doctrines of our treatise—namely, that visarjaniya becomes a sibilant before a sibilant, and jihvdmaliya and upadhmdniya before gutturals and labials ——while it states (iii. 9) that QAkalya leaves ...
‎1862
10
The Emergence of Phonology: Whole-word Approaches and ...
with sibilant final which had three different kinds of initial: (1) stop, (2) continuant, and (3) nasal; cf. P's Sibilant Structure at 1;6. The following is a representative selection of the forms the child had, taken from Leopold (1939: 53–137): 1.
Marilyn M. Vihman, Tamar Keren-Portnoy, 2013

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SIBILANT»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term sibilant is used in the context of the following news items.
1
David Thorpe finds his voice with Do I Sound Gay?
To flame-down one's voice or proudly reclaim the sibilant “s”? — that is the question. The film follows Thorpe as he moves from vocal coach to CD tutorials to ... «San Diego Reader, Jul 15»
2
Lots of luck explaining the Supreme Court to a child
And so you could put it that some very convincing, sibilant voice like that must have whispered into their ears, but do you want to tell a young child that? «American Thinker, Jul 15»
3
Filmmaker And Speech Pathologist Weigh In On What It Means To …
Thorpe describes the gay voice as one characterized by a sibilant S and a high pitch. "When I interview people," Thorpe says, "they always say that to them the ... «New Hampshire Public Radio, Jul 15»
4
How Hong Kong's Canton Disco became one of world's coolest clubs
For one night the legend of Canton lives again and the smoke machine's sibilant hiss will whisper of magical nights when Hong Kong's prettiest things burned ... «South China Morning Post, May 15»
5
Ferguson brought raw irreverence to CBC
Rawhide's trademark was what Ferguson called his “low, aged, hard, flat, sloppily sibilant voice.” The impression given in Ferguson's autobiography And Now . «London Free Press, Mar 15»
6
Alan Howard, Actor With Royal Shakespeare Company, Dies at 77
... of the Ring” (2001) and “The Return of the King” (2003) — delivering his lines in a combination of English and the sibilant-infused language of Mordor. He was ... «New York Times, Feb 15»
7
How Do You Spell the Abbreviation of Casual?
Without it, cazh is too soft and sibilant. It's ironic that we can only form the easy-breezy version of an already casual word by creating such a clogged-up ... «Slate Magazine, Feb 15»
8
Why Do Gay Men Lisp, Documentary Asks; But Is There Really An …
The Lisp. Lisping is a speech disorder characterized by the inability to correctly pronounce sibilant consonants, or as we know them, the sounds of s and z. «Medical Daily, Nov 14»
9
New Hobbit Behind-The-Scenes Clip With Benedict Cumberbatch
... Avatar transports emotions and expressions from the face of Cumberbatch and directly onto the visage of the Lonely Mountain's resident fire-burping sibilant. «Empire Online, Oct 14»
10
The Religion of Liberalism and the 'Killing of Innocents'
In his primetime speech about going after ISIL (with that damned whistling S), a sibilant Barack Obama promised America that “[w]e will degrade, and ultimately ... «American Thinker, Sep 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Sibilant [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/sibilant>. May 2024 ».
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