Meaning & use
nasal consonant
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Meanings
nouncountabletechnical
A speech sound made by closing the mouth passage and letting air escape through the nose.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a nasal consonant' or 'nasal consonants' when you mean one or more of these sounds.
Patterns
- a nasal consonant in a word
- pronounce a nasal consonant
- nasal consonants in English
In English, /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/ are the nasal consonants.
The teacher asked us to hold the nasal consonant at the end of 'sing'.
Some learners find it hard to hear the difference between a nasal consonant and a plain one.
nouncountabletechnical
The letter or letters that normally spell such a sound, especially m, n and ng.
Grammar: Also countable; here it refers to written letters rather than sounds, so it often appears in spelling lessons.
Patterns
- spell something with a nasal consonant
- a word ending in a nasal consonant
Words like 'ram' and 'ran' end with a nasal consonant.
If you add a nasal consonant after the vowel, the spelling changes.
Word forms
| plural | nasal consonants |
|---|
Common combinations
- a voiced nasal consonant
- The sound /n/ is a voiced nasal consonant because the vocal cords vibrate.
- a nasal consonant sound
- French has a nasal consonant sound that many English speakers find difficult.
- pronounce a nasal consonant
- Try to pronounce the nasal consonant without blocking the air completely.
- a syllable ending in a nasal consonant
- The word 'man' has a syllable ending in a nasal consonant.
- nasal consonants in English
- Nasal consonants in English are fewer than in many other languages.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nasal
- Shorter and more general; it can describe any nasal sound or a nasal voice, while 'nasal consonant' names one specific type of sound.
- nasal sound
- A broader everyday phrase that includes vowels said through the nose, not only consonants.
Opposites
Word family
- nasal adjective
- Relating to the nose or to sounds made through the nose.
- nasality noun
- The quality of sounding nasal, especially in someone's voice.
- consonant noun
- Any speech sound made with a partial or complete block in the mouth.
- nasalize verb
- To make a sound nasal, often shown with a mark in some languages.
Commonly confused: nasal consonant or nasal vowel? nasal consonant or consonant cluster?
nasal consonant vs nasal vowel
A nasal vowel lets air out through the nose while the mouth stays open, as in French 'bon'; a nasal consonant blocks the mouth at the same time.
nasal consonant vs consonant cluster
A consonant cluster is simply two or more consonants together, such as 'st' in 'stop'; they need not be nasal.
Practice
Which of these words ends with a nasal consonant?
Choose one answer.
'Ram' ends with /m/, which is made with air passing through the nose, so it is a nasal consonant. 'Cat', 'cap' and 'gas' end with /t/, /p/ and /s/, which are oral sounds made in the mouth.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nasal consonant”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.