Spirant vs Sibilant - What's the difference?
spirant | sibilant |
Characterized by a hissing sound such as the "s" or "sh" in sash'' or ''surge .
* 1960 : Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird
(phonetics) A hissing sound such as the 's' or 'sh' in 'sash' or 'surge'.
* 1955 : H. A. Gleason, An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics , page 194, section 14.7
As nouns the difference between spirant and sibilant
is that spirant is a fricative while sibilant is a hissing sound such as the 's' or 'sh' in 'sash' or 'surge'.As an adjective sibilant is
characterized by a hissing sound such as the "s" or "sh" in sash or surge.sibilant
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- She had a curious habit of prefacing everything she said with a soft sibilant sound.
"S-s-s Grace," she said, "it's just like I was telling Brother Hutson the other day. 'S-s-s Brother Hutson,' I said, 'looks like we're fighting a losing battle, a losing battle.' I said."
Derived terms
* sibilantlyNoun
(en noun)- Groove fricatives all have more or less of an [s]-like quality, and are for this reason sometimes called sibilants .