aspirate
noun · verb · adjective
Simple meaning
The puff of air accompanying the release of a plosive or fricative consonant.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
asperaytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæspɚeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
linguistics
The puff of air accompanying the release of a plosive or fricative consonant.
linguistics
A sound produced by such a puff of air.
A sample of fluid, tissue, or other substance that is withdrawn via aspiration (usually through a hollow needle) from a body cavity, cyst, or tumor.
A mark of aspiration (ʽ) used in Greek; the asper, or rough breathing.
verb
transitive
To remove a liquid or gas by means of suction.
Inhale (air, water, etc.)
transitive
To inhale something other than air into one's lungs.
intransitive
To suffocate, having inhaled something other than air.
adjective
Synonym of aspirated.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The puff of air accompanying the release of a plosive or fricative consonant.
Used this way, aspirate is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a grammar or language-study use: it describes how language works, so it appears in teaching and reference writing.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Academic writing
- Education/classroom
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.