English
spirant
Spirant comes from Latin spirans ‘breathing’, and goes back to spīrō ‘to blow’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspīrō‘to blow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEspirans‘breathing’present participle of spīrō
- Englishearliest quotation 1888spirant
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEspīrō‘to blow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEspirans‘breathing’present participle of spīrō
- Englishearliest quotation 1888spirant
Earliest quotation: 1888, Joseph Wright: “Spirant consonants are those in which the mouth passage…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)peys- ‘to blow’
through Proto-Germanic *fīsaną ‘to blow’
through Latin spīrō ‘to blow’
spirit, conspiracy, spree, respiratory, expire, sprite, aspire, aspiration, esprit, spire, 51 more
Today it means
noun A non-sibilant fricative.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin spīrō / spirant