A consonant sound that starts as a stop (like 'p' or 't') and immediately releases into a fricative (like 'sh' or 'z'), such as the 'ch' in 'church'.
From the Latin 'affricatus,' past participle of 'affricare' (to rub against), from 'ad-' (to) + 'fricare' (to rub). The linguistic term was coined to describe the rubbing or friction quality of these sounds.
English has two common affricates—'ch' and 'j'—and they're why non-native speakers sometimes struggle with English: these sounds don't exist in many other languages, requiring a tricky combination of mouth movements.
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