喜樂美語

Think of consonant as 'sounding along with something else'. A consonant sound cannot really stand alone — /p/, /s/, /m/ need a vowel beside them to be heard as a syllable. That picture of two things sounding together, not clashing, is what carries the other meanings too: things that fit, notes that rest well side by side.

可以想成「跟著別的東西一起響」。/p/、/s/、/m/ 這些音自己單獨發幾乎撐不起一個音節，得靠旁邊的母音才聽得出來——它們是「合著響」的音。這個「兩樣東西一起出聲、而且不打架」的畫面，也就是這個字另一半意思的來源：合得上、不衝突、擺在一起很順。

From the word’s history

From Latin consonantem 'sounding together, agreeing', present participle of consonare 'to sound together' (com- 'with, together' + sonare 'to sound'). Consonants were thought of as sounds produced only together with a vowel — the same 'sounding together' also gives the sense of things agreeing and of notes that rest well together.

來自拉丁文 consonantem「一起響、相合」，是 consonare「一起發聲」的現在分詞（com-「一起」＋ sonare「發聲」）。古人把子音想成「只能跟母音一起發出來的音」，所以叫「合著響的音」。同一個「合著響」也長出了另外兩個意思：兩件事互相吻合、以及幾個音擺在一起聽起來和諧——名詞和形容詞看起來毫無關係，其實是同一個畫面的兩邊。

etymonline.com/word/consonant

登入就可以看每一支怎麼連回核心畫面。

複數 consonants

用法接近

vowelin line withsyllablein keeping withsoundsuitedsyllable stressharmonyletterchordalphabetin tune+1

原始詞典資料6 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

consonantnoun/ˈkɒn.sə.nənt/

  • 1

    human-scienceslinguisticsphoneticsA sound that results from the passage of air through restrictions of the oral cavity; any sound that is not the dominant sound of a syllable, the dominant sound generally being a vowel.

  • 2

    A letter representing the sound of a consonant.

    • Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
    • “Tell me, has right anything to do with the law?” I asked. “You have used the wrong initial consonant,” he smiled in answer. “Might?” I queried; and he nodded his head.

consonantadj/ˈkɒn.sə.nənt/

  • 1

    Consistent, harmonious, compatible, or in agreement.

    • Each one pretends that his opinion […] is consonant to the words there used.
    • Cheerfulness, even gaiety, is consonant with every species of virtue and practice of religion, and I think it inconsistent only with impiety and vice.
  • 2

    Having the same sound.

    • 1645-1650, James Howell, Epistolae Ho-Elianae consonant words and syllables
  • 3

    entertainmentlifestylemusicHarmonizing together; accordant.

    • consonant tones; consonant chords
  • 4

    Of or relating to consonants; made up of, or containing many, consonants.

    • No Russian whose dissonant consonant name / Almost shatters to fragments the trumpet of fame.

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。