What does "approximant" mean?

A consonant sound made by slightly narrowing the vocal tract, while still allowing a smooth flow of air. Liquids and glides are approximants.

What is a synonym for "approximant"?

Common synonyms include: approximand.

Pronounced //əˈpɹɑksəmənt//.

//əˈpɹɑksəmənt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A consonant sound made by slightly narrowing the vocal tract, while still allowing a smooth flow of air. Liquids and glides are approximants.
2
An approximation to the solution of a function, series, etc.

"A linguistics student swallowed her own tongue after attempting the legendary glottal approximant."

From Latin approximāns. In the phonetics sense first used by Peter Ladefoged, the mathematical concept is attributed to Paul Halmos.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.