(of a phoneme or letter) located immediately before a consonant
preconsonantal in American English
(priˌkɑnsəˈnæntl, ˌprikɑn-)
adjective
Phonetics
immediately preceding a consonant
Word origin
[1950–55; pre- + consonantal]This word is first recorded in the period 1950–55. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Common Market, International Gothic, bleep, conflict of interest, point-of-salepre- is a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, where it meant “before”(preclude; prevent); applied freely as a prefix, with the meanings “prior to,” “in advance of,” “early,”“beforehand,” “before,” “in front of,” and with other figurative meanings (preschool; prewar; prepay: preoral; prefrontal)