Consonants in English

A consonant is a speech sound made by partly or completely blocking the flow of air with the lips, teeth, or tongue. English spells its consonant sounds with 21 letters (every letter except a, e, i, o, u), but there are actually 24 consonant sounds — some spelled with letter pairs like sh and th.

Consonants and vowels play different roles in a syllable: the vowel sound is the core of every syllable, and consonants form its edges — the beginning (onset) and the end (coda). That's why counting vowel sounds, not consonants, tells you how many syllables a word has.

Voiced and voiceless consonants

Put your fingers on your throat and say "zzz" — you'll feel a buzz. That's a voiced consonant (your vocal cords vibrate). Now say "sss" — no buzz: voiceless. Many English consonants come in voiced/voiceless pairs made in exactly the same mouth position:

• /b/–/p/ (bat / pat)
• /d/–/t/ (dip / tip)
• /g/–/k/ (goat / coat)
• /v/–/f/ (van / fan)
• /z/–/s/ (zip / sip)
• /ð/–/θ/ (this / think)

The main types of consonants

Stops (plosives)

The airflow is stopped completely, then released in a small burst: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ — as in pen, bed, top, dog, cat, go.

Fricatives

Air is squeezed through a narrow gap, making friction: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/ — as in fish, van, think, this, sun, zoo, ship, vision, hat.

Affricates

A stop that releases into a fricative: /tʃ/ as in church and /dʒ/ as in jump.

Nasals

Air flows out through the nose: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ — as in man, net, ring.

Liquids

Air flows smoothly around the tongue: /l/ as in leg and /r/ as in red.

Glides (semivowels)

Vowel-like sounds that act as consonants: /w/ as in wet and /j/ as in yes.

Digraphs vs. blends

These two are easy to confuse, and the difference matters for dividing words into syllables:

• A digraph is two letters spelling one sound: ship, chat, thin, phone, ring. Digraphs stay together when a word splits into syllables (tea·cher).
• A blend is two or three consonants pronounced in sequence, each keeping its own sound: stop, blue, street.

Consonants and syllables

Consonants decide a syllable's type: a syllable that ends in a consonant is closed (short vowel, as in cat), while one that ends in a vowel is open (long vowel, as in go). When two consonants sit between vowels, the syllable break usually falls between them: rab·bit, bas·ket. See all six syllable types for more.