labial

UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈleɪbɪəl/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/ˈleɪbiəl/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(lābē əl)


WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
la•bi•al /ˈleɪbiəl/USA pronunciation   adj. 
  1. of or relating to the lips.
  2. Phonetics(of a speech sound) made or pronounced using one or both lips, as the sounds /p/, /v/, /m/, /w/, or /u/.

n. [countable]
  1. Phoneticsa labial speech sound, esp. a consonant.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
la•bi•al  (lābē əl),USA pronunciation adj. 
  1. of, pertaining to, or resembling a labium.
  2. of or pertaining to the lips.
  3. Phoneticsinvolving lip articulation, as p, v, m, w, or a rounded vowel.
  4. Music and Dancehaving the tones produced by the impact of a stream of air on a sharp liplike edge, as in a flute or the flue pipes of an organ.

n. Phonet. 
  1. Phoneticsany labial consonant, esp. a bilabial.
  2. Phoneticsany labial sound.
  • Medieval Latin labiālis. See labium, -al1
  • 1585–95
la′bi•ali•ty, n. 
labi•al•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
labial /ˈleɪbɪəl/ adj
  1. of, relating to, or near lips or labia
  2. producing sounds by the action of an air stream over a narrow liplike fissure, as in a flue pipe of an organ
  3. relating to a speech sound whose articulation involves movement or use of the lips
n
  1. Also called: labial pipe an organ pipe with a liplike fissure
  2. a speech sound such as English p or m, whose articulation involves movement or use of the lips
Etymology: 16th Century: from Medieval Latin labiālis, from Latin labium lipˈlabially adv
'labial' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):

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