fricative

/ˈfrɪkətɪv/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈfrɪkətɪv/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈfri-kə-tiv/ (ame, mw)

fricative — noun

  • fricativesingular
  • fricativesplural

1. a type of consonant whose hissing or rubbing quality comes from squeezing breath

1.名詞C2
釋義

a type of consonant whose hissing or rubbing quality comes from squeezing breath through a small gap somewhere in the mouth — the /f/ at the start of fish and the /s/ at the end of bus are both examples.

例句

Hannah's phonetics professor explained that English has nine fricatives, including the /v/ in voice.

countable noun with numeric quantifier

Children often confuse the two fricatives at the start of thin and sin.

plural use comparing sounds

同義詞
  • spirant

    older technical term for the same class of sounds; rare in modern textbooks

  • sibilant

    narrower term covering only hissing fricatives like /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/

反義詞
  • stop

    consonant made by blocking the airflow completely, like /p/ or /t/

  • plosive

    another name for a stop consonant

用法筆記

Almost exclusively used in linguistics and speech therapy. Subject of examples is usually a learner, teacher, or therapist; objects are usually specific sounds shown by IPA symbols (/f/, /s/, /ʃ/) or example words.

常見錯誤

❌The letter f is a fricative.
✅The sound /f/ is a fricative.
💡fricative names a speech sound, not a written letter.