approximant
|ap-prox-i-mant|
🇺🇸
/əˈprɑksɪmənt/
🇬🇧
/əˈprɒksɪmənt/
coming near; not exact
Etymology
'approximant' originates from Latin, specifically the verb 'approximare', where 'ad-/ap-' meant 'to/toward' and 'proximus' meant 'nearest'.
'approximant' changed from the Latin present-participle form 'approximans' (Medieval/Church Latin) and via Late Latin/Middle French forms into the modern English 'approximant'.
Initially, it meant 'coming near' or 'bringing near'; over time the term narrowed and specialized to mean 'something that approximates' generally and, in phonetics, a specific type of consonant 'a sound that comes near but is not exact (no turbulent airflow)'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
in phonetics, a consonant produced by narrowing the vocal tract, but not enough to cause turbulent airflow (e.g., the English sounds /w/, /j/, /r/, /l/).
The English /r/ in many accents is realized as an alveolar approximant.
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Noun 2
a value, function, or expression that approximates another (used in mathematics and numerical analysis, e.g., 'Padé approximant').
They used the Padé approximant to get a better approximation of the function near the singularity.
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Last updated: 2025/09/27 23:46