Liquid consonant - Definition and Overview

Liquid consonants, or liquids, are speech sounds; more specifically, they are approximant consonants that are not classified as semivowels (glides) because they do not correspond phonetically to specific vowels (in the way that, for example, the initial [j] in English yes corresponds to [i]). The class of liquids can be divided into lateral liquids and rhotics.

English letters [l] and [ɹ] are typical liquids.

See also

• affricate
• fricative
• phonetics
• stop consonant