oblique stem consonant-, from consonans 'sounding-together', a calque of Greek ??u????? sýmphonon (plural sýmphona, ??u????).

Dionysius Thrax, a Classical Greek grammarian, called consonants sýmphona (??u???? 'sounded with') because in Greek, they can only be pronounced with a vowel. He divides them into two subcategories: hemíphona (?u????? 'half-sounded'),