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In phonetics, a continuant is a speech sound produced without a complete closure in the oral cavity, namely fricatives, approximants and vowels. While vowels are included in continuants, the term is often reserved for consonant sounds.

Compare sonorant (resonant), which includes vowels, approximants and nasals but not fricatives, and contrasts with obstruent.

In phonology, continuant as a distinctive feature also includes trills. Whether lateral fricatives and approximants and taps/flaps are continuant is not conclusive.

Frictionless Continuants
The definition of a continuant is sometimes restricted to include only those continuants produced without friction, and these can be referred to as frictionless continuants. Approximants and vowels are sometimes called frictionless continuants. An example of a frictionless continuant is /l/.