aspirate

English

WOTD - 4 November 2010    

Etymology

From Latin aspīrātus, perfect passive participle of aspīrō (“breathe upon”).

Pronunciation

• noun and adjective
  • (UK, US) IPA: /ˈæs.pəɹ.ət/, /ˈæs.pɪ.ɹət/, /ˈæs.pə.ɹɪt/, SAMPA: /"{s.p@.r@t/, /"{s.pI.r@t/, /"{s.p@.rIt/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

• verb
  • (UK) IPA: /ˈæs.pəɹ.eɪt/, /ˈæs.pɪ.ɹeɪt/, SAMPA: /"{s.p@r.eIt/, /"{s.pI.reIt/
  • (US) IPA: /ˈæs.pə.ɹeɪt/, /ˈæs.pɪ.ɹeɪt/, SAMPA: /"{s.p@.reIt/, /"{s.pI.reIt/

    Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -æspəreɪt
• (UK) Hyphenation: as‧pir‧ate
• (US) Hyphenation: as‧pi‧rate

Noun

aspirate (plural aspirates)

1. (linguistics) The puff of air accompanying the release of a plosive consonant.
2. (linguistics) A sound produced by such a puff of air.
   • 1972, Leonard R. Palmer, Descriptive and Comparative Linguistics, page 50

     We now come to the so-called aspirate [h], which must be also classified as a fricative consonant.

Translations

linguistics: puff of air

Finnish: aspiraatio (fi), henkäisy (fi)

Spanish: aspiración (es)

linguistics: sound produced

Bengali: মহাপ্রাণ বর্ণ (bn) Finnish: aspiraatta (fi)

Russian: придыхательный согласный (ru), придыхательный звук (ru) Spanish: aspirada (es)

Verb

aspirate (third-person singular simple present aspirates, present participle aspirating, simple past and past participle aspirated)

1. (transitive) To remove a liquid or gas by means of suction.
   • 2003, Miep H. Helfrich et al. (eds.), Bone Research Protocols, page 430

     Scrape cells using a cell scraper and aspirate the resulting slurry into a 2.0-mL Eppendorf tube.

2. (transitive) To inhale so as to draw something other than air into one's lungs.
3. (transitive, linguistics) To produce an audible puff of breath. especially following a consonant.
   • 1887, James Frederick Hodgetts, Greater England, page 33

     There is no doubt that the uncertainty about the letter H, which much defaces English in some classes of the community, is due entirely to Norman influence, for Frenchmen could not aspirate. Three words—hour, honor, heir, with compounds of them such as hourly, honourable, heirship, and the like, are quite enough to puzzle people who find H sometimes sounded, sometimes not.

Synonyms

• (inhale): breathe in, inhale, inspire

Translations

to remove a liquid or gas by suction

Finnish: imeä (fi), imaista (fi), aspiroida (fi) French: aspirer (fr), pomper (fr) Italian: pompare (it), aspirare (it)

Russian: аспирировать (ru), отсасывать (ru) Spanish: aspirar (es), chupar (es), sacar con la bomba (es)

to draw into one's lungs

Finnish: vetää henkeen (fi), aspiroida (fi) French: inspirer (fr), inhaler (fr)

Spanish: inhalar (es), aspirar (es)

linguistics: to produce an audible puff of breath

Finnish: henkäistä (fi), aspiroida (fi) Irish: análaigh (ga) Norwegian: aspirere (no)

Russian: произносить с придыханием (ru) Spanish: aspirar (es)

Adjective

aspirate (comparative more aspirate, superlative most aspirate)

1. aspirated

Translations

aspirated — see aspirated

Related terms

• aspiration
• aspirational
• aspirator

Anagrams

• parasite, pastiera

---

Italian

Verb

aspirate

1. second-person plural present indicative of aspirare
2. second-person plural imperative of aspirare
3. Feminine plural of aspirato

Anagrams

• apertasi, asperità, espatria, espirata, pastiera, raspiate, ripesata, satrapie, separati, spariate, sterpaia

---

Latin

Verb

aspīrāte

1. first-person plural present active imperative of aspīrō