sibilant

English

WOTD – 10 January 2009

Etymology

From Latin sībilāns, present active participle of sībilō (“I hiss”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪb.ɪ.lənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

sibilant (comparative more sibilant, superlative most sibilant)

1. Characterized by a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack.
   • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa., New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     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

• sibilant rhonchus
• sibilantly

Translations

characterized by a hissing sound

• Arabic: صَفِيرِيّ m (ṣafīriyy)
• Armenian: շչական (hy) (ščʻakan), սուլական (hy) (sulakan)
• Azerbaijani: sibilyant
• Bulgarian: съскащ (bg) (sǎskašt), шипящ (šipjašt)
• Czech: sykavý
• Finnish: suhiseva, sihisevä, sihauttava
• French: sifflant (fr) m, sifflante (fr) f
• Greek: συριστικός (el) (syristikós)
• Irish: siosach
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: hihī
• Portuguese: sibilante (pt)
• Romanian: sibilant (ro)
• Russian: свистя́щий (ru) (svistjáščij) ("whistling", for "s", "z"), шипя́щий (ru) (šipjáščij) ("sizzling", for "sh", "zh"), свистя́ще-шипя́щий (svistjášče-šipjáščij)
• Spanish: sibilante
• Swedish: väsande (sv)
• Ukrainian: шиплячий m (šypljačyj), свистячий m (svystjačyj)
• Welsh: sisiol

Noun

sibilant (plural sibilants)

1. (phonetics) A consonant having a hissing or hushing sound such as the s or sh in sack or shack.

   Synonym: groove fricative

   Hypernym: fricative

   • 1955, H. A. Gleason, An Introduction to Descriptive Linguistics, page 194, section 14.7:

     Groove fricatives all have more or less of an [s]-like quality, and are for this reason sometimes called sibilants.

Derived terms

• shibilant

Translations

phonetics: a hissing sound

• Arabic: حَرْفُ صَفِير m (ḥarfu ṣafīr)
• Armenian: շչական (hy) (ščʻakan), սուլական (hy) (sulakan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 絲絲聲／丝丝声, 咝咝声 (sīsīshēng), 嘶擦音 (sīcāyīn)

• Czech: sykavka f
• Danish: sibilant c, hvislelyd c
• Dutch: sisklank (nl) c, sibilant c
• Finnish: sibilantti (fi), suhuäänne
• French: sifflante (fr) f
• German: Zischlaut (de) m, Sibilans f, Sibilant (de) m
• Irish: siosach m
• Japanese: 歯音 (ja) (しおん, shion), 歯擦音 (しさつおん, shisatsuon)
• Maori: hihī
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hvislelyd m, sibilant (no) m

  Nynorsk: kvislelyd m, sibilant m

• Portuguese: sibilante (pt) f
• Russian: сибиля́нт (ru) m (sibiljánt), свистящий (ru) m (svistjaščij) (звук, for "s", "z"), шипя́щий (ru) m (šipjáščij) (звук, for "sh", "zh"), свистя́ще-шипя́щий m (svistjášče-šipjáščij) (звук)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сибѝлант m, пи̏скавац m

  Roman: sibìlant (sh) m, pȉskavac (sh) m

• Spanish: sibilante f
• Swedish: väsljud n, sibilant (sv) c
• Welsh: sisiolyn m

Related terms

• sibilance
• sibilancy
• sibilate
• sibilation

Anagrams

• astilbin

Danish

Noun

sibilant

1. (phonetics) sibilant

Declension

Declension of sibilant

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	sibilant	sibilanten	sibilanter	sibilanterne
genitive	sibilants	sibilantens	sibilanters	sibilanternes

Synonyms

• hvislelyd

Dutch

Pronunciation

Hyphenation: si‧bi‧lant

Noun

sibilant c (plural sibilanten, diminutive sibilantje n)

1. sibilant

Synonyms

• sisklank

French

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.bi.lɑ̃/

Adjective

sibilant (feminine sibilante, masculine plural sibilants, feminine plural sibilantes)

1. sibilant; hissing

Further reading

• “sibilant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

sībilant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of sībilō

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French sibilant.

Adjective

sibilant m or n (feminine singular sibilantă, masculine plural sibilanți, feminine and neuter plural sibilante)

1. sibilant

Declension

Declension of sibilant

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	sibilant		sibilantă	sibilanți	sibilante
	definite	sibilantul		sibilanta	sibilanții	sibilantele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	sibilant		sibilante	sibilanți	sibilante
	definite	sibilantului		sibilantei	sibilanților	sibilantelor

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sibǐlant/
• Hyphenation: si‧bi‧lant

Noun

sibìlant m (Cyrillic spelling сибѝлант)

1. (phonetics) sibilant

   Synonym: pȉskavac

Declension

Declension of sibilant

	singular	plural
nominative	sibìlant	sibilanti
genitive	sibilanta	sibìlanātā
dative	sibilantu	sibilantima
accusative	sibilant	sibilante
vocative	sibilante	sibilanti
locative	sibilantu	sibilantima
instrumental	sibilantom	sibilantima