guttural

adjective

gut·​tur·​al ˈgə-tə-rəl 

ˈgə-trəl

1

: articulated in the throat

guttural sounds

2

: velar

3

: being or marked by utterance that is strange, unpleasant, or disagreeable

guttural noun

gutturalism

ˈgə-tə-rə-ˌli-zəm 

ˈgə-trə-

noun

Did you know?

Get your mind out of the gutter. Despite appearances, guttural is not related to the English word gutter; that word comes ultimately from the Latin verb gutta, meaning “drop,” while guttural has a different Latin root: the noun guttur, meaning “throat.” Since the late 1500s guttural has been used to describe sounds that are formed or pronounced in the throat, from cries and sobs to howls and grunts. A second sense, describing sounds or utterances which strike the listener as harsh or disagreeable (as in “the guttural roar of a motorcycle engine disturbed the afternoon’s quiet”) followed. A new sense appears to be developing as well, describing things that are instinctively or deeply felt irrespective of grunts or noises from the throat, as in “a guttural response/reaction,” but this sense has yet to meet the criteria for inclusion in our dictionary.

Examples of guttural in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Some people may have been scratching their heads when kids started screaming and crying after seeing a pig wearing a crown; With zombie pig men and skeleton archers riding spiders, why would this specific creature elicit such a guttural reaction? —Issy Van Der Velde, Rolling Stone, 9 Apr. 2025

Her symptoms include vomiting up clots of hair, bile and sewing pins; making scary pronouncements in a guttural voice that is not her own; and being unusually attractive to wasps, whose carcasses litter her bedclothes. —Sarah Lyall, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2025

Taciturn men whose guttural consonants hit the ear like an ASMR shopping haul. —Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 23 Feb. 2025

Thirteen minutes from the end of Wolverhampton Wanderers’ victory at Bournemouth, Andre raised his fists and roared a guttural celebration. —Steve Madeley, The Athletic, 23 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle French, probably from Medieval Latin gutturalis, from Latin guttur throat

First Known Use

1594, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Kids Definition

guttural

adjective

gut·​tur·​al ˈgət-ə-rəl 

1

: formed or pronounced in the throat

guttural sounds

2

: formed with the back of the tongue touching or near the palate

guttural noun

gutturally

-rə-lē

adverb

Medical Definition

guttural

adjective

gut·​tur·​al ˈgət-ə-rəl, ˈgə-trəl 

: of or relating to the throat