fricative

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin fricātīvus,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Latin fricātus, the past participle of fricō (“to rub”),^[4][3][7] with the suffix of -ative.^[2][6] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster instead take it as formed in English from the Latin participle and -ive,^[8][9] and Dictionary.com from frication and -ive.^[10] The Latin verb is also the source of friction.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a consonant sound, produced by the friction of the breath through a narrow opening in the mouth: 1860, in G. P. Marsh's Lectures on the English Language.^[2][8] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1854, in the literal sense "characterized by friction".^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word was made for phonetics, describing consonants by the friction of the air through a narrowing of the vocal tract, as with f, s or v.^[2][5][9] The noun, a fricative consonant, followed in 1863, in the second edition of R. Lepsius's Standard Alphabet.^[2][9][8] The Century Dictionary also used the adjective of musical instruments sounded by friction, a sense the OED quotes from it.^[2]

Timeline

• 1860 – adjective, of a consonant produced by friction of the breath.^[2][8] Etymonline dates the adjective to 1854.^[3]
• 1863 – noun, a fricative consonant.^[2][9][8][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A consonant produced by forcing the breath through a narrow opening in the vocal tract, such as f, v, s or z in English.^[11][9][4]

Adjective

1. Of a speech sound, produced in this way; relating to or being a fricative: The two fricative sounds in “five” are both made with the lips and teeth.^[11][9][4]

Word family

• nonfricative
• slit fricative

Related words

• friction
• frication

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged compares spirant, an older name for the same class of consonants.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins