Consonant

A consonant is a sound made when air coming from the lungs is partly or completely stopped by parts of the mouth, such as the tongue, teeth, or lips. This creates sounds like b, t, k, s, or m. Consonants usually come before or after vowels in words to shape how words sound. Without consonants, words would be mostly open and soft, while with them, speech gains structure and rhythm.

In the English alphabet, there are 21 consonant letters: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, and Z. However, the sound that a letter makes can change depending on its position or the letters nearby. For example, the letter c sounds different in cat and city. This makes learning English pronunciation interesting and sometimes tricky.

Consonants differ from vowels, which are made by letting air flow freely through the mouth. While vowels are the heart of syllables, consonants act like their edges or borders. Together, they form the building blocks of words. For instance, in the word dog, the consonants d and g frame the vowel o. The mix of consonants and vowels creates the wide range of sounds found in human languages.

Some consonants are made with the voice, called voiced consonants, like b or d, where the vocal cords vibrate. Others are voiceless, like p or t, where the vocal cords stay still. You can feel the difference by touching your throat while saying b and p—b makes a vibration, but p does not. These small changes in airflow and vibration are what make each consonant unique.

Different languages have different sets of consonant sounds. English has many, but some languages have more or fewer. For example, Hawaiian uses only eight consonants, while other languages may use over thirty. Linguists study how consonants are formed and used to understand how people communicate across cultures.

Consonants are also important in writing and art forms like poetry, where they help create rhythm and patterns of sound. Poets often repeat certain consonants in a line, a technique called alliteration, to make their writing sound musical—for example, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.