semivowel
(ˈsɛmɪvaʊəl)
[f. semi- 8 c + vowel, after L. sēmivocālis: see prec. Cf. F. semi-voyelle.]
A vocal sound that partakes of the nature of a vowel and of a consonant; a letter representing such a sound.
The general literary use echoes that of the Roman grammarians, who applied the term to the spirants and liquids (including nasals), f, l, m, n, r, s, x. As a technical term the word now most commonly denotes only w and y, but sometimes it includes these together with the liquids and nasals, chiefly in their non-syllabic values.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. p. xxiii, The latines in soundyng of theyr liquides or semi vowelles begyn with e. 1552 Huloet s.v. X, X is a semiuowell, and hathe the voice of a double consonante for the which in olde writinges cs and gs was vsed. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Semivowels, certain Consonants so called, because they have the sound of Vowels, As f, l, m, n, s. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. iii. xii. 369, (S) the correspondent mute (though it be commonly reckoned for a semivowel). 1726 Broome Notes Pope's Odyss. xvii. 46 When Homer..paints a beautiful face, or an engaging object, he chuses the softest vowels, and most smooth and flowing semivowels. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 88 ¶3 By tempering the mute Consonants with Liquids and Semivowels. 1841 Latham Eng. Lang. ii. ix. 165 The Semivowel y. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. II. xxxvi. 409 The whole Iroquois family never use the semivowel m. |
| attrib. 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie V. xix. (1891) 261 The foam-flowers dropping as the grass-flowers drop,—with sharp semivowel consonantal sounds,—frsh. |