You searched for: “consonants”
consonance, consonants
consonance (KAHN suh nuhns) (noun)
Harmonious agreement among the components or parts, for example, of sounds: The consonance of the syllables in the song was pleasing to listen to.
consonants (KAHN suh nuhnts) (noun)
A speech sound characterized by the constriction of one or more points along the breath channel during pronunciation: The professor said that there are more consonants in the English alphabet than vowel sounds.

The chairperson of the meeting announced that given the consonance among the members present regarding the diacritical markings for consonants, he recommended that they adjourn for some refreshments.

This entry is located in the following unit: Confusing Words Clarified: Group C; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. (page 9)
Word Entries containing the term: “consonants”
ad- appears in this form before a vowel and before the consonants d, h, j, m, and v. It is simplified to a- before sc, sp and st.

Before c, f, g, l, n, p, q, r, s, and t; ad- is changed to ac-, af-, ag-, al-, an-, ap-, aq-, ar-, as-, and at-.

In other words, the d of ad usually changes into the same letter as the first letter of the following root or word when it is a consonant: ad-fix becomes affix, and ad-sign becomes assign; therefore, making a double consonant.

Another example includes: attract as with ad-tract (drawn towards); so it has a double t. On the other hand when ad- precedes a vowel, as with adapt, it is simply ad-apt, with one d. For the same reason, there is only one d in adore and adumbrate, because ad- has combined with orare and umbra each of which starts with a vowel.

So, remember: since these Latin words begin with vowels and not consonants, the d of ad does not double as shown in the previous examples.

This entry is located in the following unit: Latin Proverbs, Mottoes, Phrases, and Words: Group A (page 6)