Definition of "consonant" [con•so•nant]

• Being in agreement or accord: remarks consonant with our own beliefs. (adjective)
• Corresponding or alike in sound, as words or syllables. (adjective)
• Harmonious in sound or tone. (adjective)
• A speech sound produced by a partial or complete obstruction of the air stream by any of various constrictions of the speech organs, such as (p), (f), (r), (w), and (h). (noun)
• A letter or character representing such a speech sound. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "If the last letter of the stem is a consonant, the word is said to have a _consonant stem_; if the stem ends in «-i-», the word is said to have an «i-»_stem_."
• "Before a vowel in the same syllable it has the value of a consonant and is called _I consonant_."
• "That's because English favors closed syllables (ending in consonant) while French prefers open syllables (ending in a vowel)."