consonant

consonant (ENG N / FR CONSONNE) speech sound formed when constriction or closure occurs at some point(s) in the breath channel. French consonne, first used in 1529, comes from the Latin consona, »with which the sound joins.« Since in French, the sound is considered to be carried by the vowel, consonants are to sound with the vowels, and are thus correctly articulated very clearly and quickly before the vowels they precede. Hugo writes: »Each word is in itself a small orchestra in which the…