1. relating to the palate (roof of the mouth)
Usage: anatomy
2. produced with the tongue touching or near the hard palate
Usage: linguistics; phonetics

1. a speech sound made with the tongue touching or near the hard palate
Usage: linguistics; phonetics

Examples

• The dentist examined the palatal tissues during the checkup.
• A cleft palate affects the palatal structure of the mouth.
• The letter ‘y’ in ‘yes’ represents a palatal consonant.
• Spanish has a palatal nasal sound in words like ‘niño’.
• The palatal /j/ sound occurs in many languages.
• Linguists classify sounds by their palatal or non-palatal articulation.