What is "stop consonant"

n. a consonant produced by stopping the flow of air at some point and suddenly releasing it; "his stop consonants are too aspirated" [syn: stop, occlusive, plosive consonant, plosive speech sound, plosive] [ant: continuant consonant]

In phonetics, a stop, also known as a plosive or oral occlusive, is a consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.

The occlusion may be made with the tongue blade (, ) or body (, ), lips (, ), or glottis . Stops contrast with nasals, where the vocal tract is blocked but airflow continues through the nose, as in and , and with fricatives, where partial occlusion impedes but does not block airflow in the vocal tract.