Definition of consonant

The origin of the word "consonant" can be traced back to its Latin roots. In Latin, the word consonantis (consonans in the singular) literally translates to "sounding together." The necessity for such a term can be traced back to ancient Greek scholars, who created the first system of writing and phonetics in the form of the Greek alphabet. The Greeks noticed that certain letters were followed by, or "sounded together" with, other letters, resulting in new sounds. For example, the Greek letter "κ" (kappa) followed by the letter "α" (alpha) resulted in the sound we now know as "g" in the English language. This combination of letters was called a "consonant cluster" in Greek, as the consonant sounds were seen as occurring together. This concept was brought into Latin, where the word consonantis began to be used to refer to letters that occurred together in words, resulting in a specific sound. The term was then adopted into Old French, where it became consonant, which eventually made its way into modern English. Today, consonants are defined as letters in an alphabet, such as "b" or "g," that are pronounced with some noise or obstruction of breath as they are spoken, in contrast to vowels, which represent sounds that are produced without such obstruction or noise in pronunciation.