affricate, a consonant sound that begins as a stop (sound with complete obstruction of the breath stream) and concludes with a fricative (sound with incomplete closure and a sound of friction). Examples of affricates are the ch sound in English chair, which may be represented phonetically as a t sound followed by sh; the j in English jaw (a d followed by the zh sound heard in French jour or in English azure); and the ts sound often heard in German and spelled with z as in zehn, meaning ten.