any of several frequency ranges within which the partials of a sound, esp a vowel sound, are at their strongest, thus imparting to the sound its own special quality, tone colour, or timbre
formant in American English
(ˈfɔrmənt)
noun
Phonetics
any one of the group of frequencies characterizing a given vowel sound
Word origin
Ger < L formans (gen. formantis), prp. of formare, form