Phrase guide

mater lectionis

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈmeɪtə lɛktiˈəʊnɪs/
  • US: /ˈmeɪtɚ lɛktiˈoʊnɪs/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A consonant letter used to represent a vowel sound in Semitic scripts.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, phonology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin māter lēctiōnis (literally “mother of reading”), calque of Medieval Hebrew אֵם קְרִיאָה (ʾēm qərîʾā).

Across languages

Translations

11 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: أُمّ قِرَاءَة (ʔumm qirāʔa) — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • French: mater lectionis — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • German: Lesemutter — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • German: Mater lectionis — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Hebrew: אֵם קְרִיאָה ('em k'ri'á) — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Latin: māter lēctiōnis — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Norwegian Bokmål: lesemor — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: lesemor — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Polish: mater lectionis — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Russian: ма́тер лекцио́нис (mátɛr lekciónis) — consonant used to represent a vowel sound
  • Russian: «мать чте́ния» — consonant used to represent a vowel sound