noun
1. : the set of regular changes in consonant articulation which distinguish the Germanic languages from the other Indo-European languages and through which Indo-European voiceless stops become Germanic voiceless fricatives (as in Greek pyr, treis, kardia compared with English fire, three, heart ), Indo-European voiced stops become Germanic voiceless stops (as in Old Slavic jablŭko, Greek dyo, genos compared with English apple, two, kin ), and Indo-European voiced aspirated stops become Germanic voiced fricatives (as in Sanskrit nābhi, madhya “mid”, Latin helvus compared with English navel, Old Norse mithr “mid”, English yellow ) — called also first consonant shift, Germanic consonant shift
2. : the set of regular changes in consonant articulation which distinguish High German from the other Germanic languages and through which Germanic voiceless stops become High German affricates or voiceless fricatives (as in English pound, open, ten, eat, corn, make compared with German pfund, offen, zehn, essen, Upper German kchorn, German machen ) and Germanic voiced stops become High German voiceless stops (as in English rib, middle, Dutch egge “edge”, compared with German rippe, mittel “means”, ecke “corner”) — called also second consonant shift, High German consonant shift
3. : the Germanic and High German consonant shifts together
4. : any set of regular changes in consonant articulation in the history of a language or dialect
the Armenian consonant shift