Obstruent

//ˈɒbstɹuːənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A consonant sound formed by obstructing the airway, causing turbulence; a plosive, fricative, or affricate.

    "Lehmann (1998:77) and Steever (1998: 14, 16) considered āytam an allophone of Tamil /y/ before obstruents, but there is no real evidence for this assumption."

  2. 2
    a consonant that is produced with a partial or complete blockage of the airflow from the lungs through the nose or mouth wordnet
  3. 3
    Anything that obstructs, especially in the passages of the body.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Causing obstruction; blocking up.

    "an obstruent medicine"

Synonyms

All synonyms
chokingcontrarycounterproductivecrosswisehinderinginhibiting

Example

More examples

"That obstruent is not retroflex, as the bottom of the tongue does not touch the palate."

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin obstruēns, obstruentis.

Related phrases

final obstruent devoicing

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