approximants
|ap-prox-i-mants|
🇺🇸
/əˈprɑːksɪmənt/
🇬🇧
/əˈprɒksɪmənt/
(approximant)
coming near; not exact
Etymology
'approximant' originates from Latin, specifically from the verb 'approximare' (Late Latin 'approximans'), where 'ad-/ap-' meant 'toward' and 'proximus' meant 'nearest'; the English technical noun was formed with the suffix '-ant'.
'approximant' developed from Latin 'approximans' → Medieval/Late Latin usage → formed in English from the verb 'approximate' (from Latin 'approximare') with the agentive/participial suffix '-ant', and was adopted into technical terminology (especially phonetics) in the 19th century.
Initially related to the idea of 'bringing near' or 'being near/approximate'; over time it acquired specialized technical senses — in phonetics as a class of consonants and in mathematics as a term for a quantity that approximates another.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
in phonetics: a consonant produced by narrowing the vocal tract without creating turbulent airflow (e.g., English /w/, /j/, some realizations of /r/ and /l/).
In phonetics, approximants like /w/ and /j/ are produced without the turbulence characteristic of fricatives.
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Noun 2
in mathematics/analysis: a value, expression, or function that approximates another value or function (e.g., convergents of a continued fraction are approximants of the original number).
The convergents are good approximants of the original irrational number.
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Last updated: 2025/09/28 00:00