lenis

/ˈliːnɪs/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈliːnɪs/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈlē-nəs ˈlā-/ (ame, mw)

lenis — adjective

  • lenispositive
  • more leniscomparative
  • most lenissuperlative

1. in phonetics, used for a consonant pronounced with less pressure and weaker brea

1.形容詞C1
釋義

in phonetics, used for a consonant pronounced with less pressure and weaker breath than a matching fortis sound.

例句

In class, Paloma learned that English /b/ is usually a lenis consonant.

lenis consonant in a teaching context

The lecturer asked Jason to pair each lenis stop with its fortis partner.

lenis vs. fortis in consonant contrast

同義詞
  • weak

    plain-language description, not the technical phonetics label

  • lax

    partly overlaps in the idea of lower effort, but is more often used for vowels

反義詞
  • fortis

    the matching term for a consonant made with greater force

文法句型

lenis + consonant

lenis + stop

用法筆記

Usually used for consonants in phonetics. For vowels, teachers more often use tense and lax instead of fortis and lenis.

常見錯誤

❌The English /iː/ vowel is lenis.
✅The English /iː/ vowel is lax.
💡lenis is mainly used for consonants, while lax is the usual term for vowels.