So"nant (?), a. [L. sonans, -antis, p.pr. of sonare to sound. See Sound a noise.]
1.
Of or pertaining to sound; sounding.
2. Phonetics
Uttered, as an element of speech, with tone or proper vocal sound, as distinguished from mere breath sound; intonated; voiced; tonic; the opposite of nonvocal, or surd; -- sid of the vowels, semivowels, liquids, and nasals, and particularly of the consonants b, d, g hard, v, etc., as compared with their cognates p, t, k, f, etc., which are called nonvocal, surd, or aspirate.
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n.
A sonant letter.
© Webster 1913.