List of consonants


This is a list of all the consonants which have a dedicated letter in the International Phonetic Alphabet, plus some of the consonants which require diacritics, ordered by place and manner of articulation.

Ordered by [place of articulation]

[Labial consonant]s

[Bilabial consonant]s

[Labiodental consonant]s

[Bidental consonant]s

[Coronal consonant]s

[Dental consonant]s

[Alveolar consonant]s

[Postalveolar consonant]s

[Dorsal consonant]s

[Palatal consonant]s

[Velar consonant]s

[Uvular consonant]s

[Laryngeal consonant]s

Pharyngeal and epiglottal consonant">Pharyngeal consonant">Pharyngeal and epiglottal consonants

[Glottal consonant]s

Ordered by [manner of articulation]

;Pulmonic consonants

Nasal (stop) consonants">Nasal consonant">Nasal (stop) consonants

Plosive (stop) consonants">Stop consonant">Plosive (stop) consonants

[Fricative consonant]s

;Sibilant fricatives
;Central non-sibilant fricatives
;Lateral fricatives
;both fricatives and approximants
;Pseudo-fricatives

[Affricate consonant]s

;Sibilant affricates
;Non-sibilant affricates
;Lateral affricates

[Approximant consonant]s

Flap (tap) consonant">Flap consonant">Flap (tap) consonants

[Trill consonant]s

[Lateral consonant]s

;Approximants
;Fricatives
;Affricates
;Flaps
;Ejective
;Clicks

[Ejective consonant]s

;Plosives
;Affricates
;Fricatives

[Implosive consonant]s

Labialized consonants">Labialization">Labialized consonants

;Plosives
;Fricatives
;Approximants

Palatalized consonants">Palatalization (phonetics)">Palatalized consonants

Pharyngealized consonants">Pharyngealization">Pharyngealized consonants

Velarized consonants">Velarization">Velarized consonants

Glottalized consonants">Glottalization">Glottalized consonants

Reinforced airstream">Glottalization">Reinforced airstream

  • Voiceless labioglottal plosive
  • Voiceless alveologlottal plosive
  • Voiceless veloglottal plosive

Blocked airstream">Glottalization">Blocked airstream

  • Voiced glottalized alveolar nasal
  • Voiced glottalized alveolar plosive
  • Voiced glottalized dental fricative

Restricted airstream">Creaky voice">Restricted airstream

Whispery voice">Breathy voice">Whispery voice

[Click consonant]s

The less common clicks, such as are found in Taa, are not included.
;Simple clicks
;Glottalized clicks
;Pulmonic-contour clicks
  • voiceless bilabial linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiced bilabial linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiceless dental linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiced dental linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiceless alveolar linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiced alveolar linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiceless alveolar lateral linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiced alveolar lateral linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiceless retroflex linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiced retroflex linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiceless palatal linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiced palatal linguo-pulmonic stop
  • voiceless bilabial linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiced bilabial linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiceless dental linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiced dental linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiceless alveolar linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiced alveolar linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiceless alveolar lateral linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiced alveolar lateral linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiceless retroflex linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiced retroflex linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiceless palatal linguo-pulmonic affricate
  • voiced palatal linguo-pulmonic affricate
;Ejective-contour clicks
  • bilabial linguo-glottalic stop
  • dental linguo-glottalic stop
  • alveolar linguo-glottalic stop
  • alveolar lateral linguo-glottalic stop
  • retroflex linguo-glottalic stop
  • palatal linguo-glottalic stop
  • bilabial linguo-glottalic affricate
  • dental linguo-glottalic affricate
  • alveolar linguo-glottalic affricate
  • alveolar lateral linguo-glottalic affricate
  • retroflex linguo-glottalic affricate
  • palatal linguo-glottalic affricate

[Percussive consonant]s

The bilabial and bidental percussives are not found in any language, but occur as phonetic detail or through speech defects. However, the sublaminal or sublingual percussive is found in Sandawe and in some dialects of Gan Chinese.