tenuis
/ˈtɛnjuɪs/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.80 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t],
adj
Of obstruents in other languages, not voiced, aspirated, glottalized, or otherwise different in phonation from the prototypical values of the voiceless IPA letters ([p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], etc.).
noun
A tenuis consonant.
Example Sentences
- "The superscript equal sign ˭ is here used to denote the Czech tenuis consonant, in this case the plosive [t˭], which lacks aspiration, in order to contrast it with its aspirated counterpart in English [tʰ]."
- "The tenuis becomes aspirate in Low-German."
- "Since the explosive was a tenuis before a consonant we have -p m- and -t n-; these combinations were mutated to mh and nh in the following examples, the voicelessness of the tenuis being retained after its assimilation"
Etymology
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtɛnjuɪs/
- British English: /ˈtɛnjuːɪs/