any speech sound in the production of which the speaker completely stops and then releases the air stream, as in (p, t, k, b, d, g), stops it at one point while it escapes at another, as in (m, n, ŋ, l, r), forces it through a loosely closed or very narrow passage, as in (f, v, s, z, s̸h, z̸h, t̸h, t̸h, H, kh, h, w, y), or uses a combination of these means, as in (c̸h, j)
a letter or symbol representing such a sound
Linguis. any phoneme, esp. one produced as described above, that does not form the peak of a syllable