aspirate
/ˈæspəreɪt/
noun
- A speech sound produced with a burst of breath, such as the 'h' in 'house'.
- In phonetics, an aspirate is marked with a small superscript 'h'.
- The 'h' in 'hello' is an aspirate.
- Some languages, like Hindi, have both aspirated and unaspirated sounds.
verb
- To pronounce a sound with a burst of breath, like the 'h' in 'hat' or the 'p' in 'pin'.
- If you don't aspirate the 't' in 'top', it might sound like 'stop'.
- In English, we aspirate the 'p' at the beginning of words like 'pat'.
- Linguistics students learn to aspirate consonants when practicing certain languages.
- To remove fluid or air from a body cavity using a needle or tube.
- During the procedure, they will aspirate the cyst to relieve pressure.
- The surgeon used a syringe to aspirate the excess air from the chest cavity.
- The doctor had to aspirate the fluid from the patient's knee.
- To inhale or draw in something, such as a foreign object or liquid, into the airways.
- If you laugh while drinking, you might aspirate liquid into your lungs.
- Patients with swallowing difficulties are at risk of aspirating saliva.
- The child accidentally aspirated a small piece of food.