non-retroflex
|non-re-tro-flex|
🇺🇸
/nɑnˈrɛtrəflɛks/
🇬🇧
/nɒnˈretrəʊflɛks/
not bent-back articulation
Etymology
'non-retroflex' originates from English, formed by the negative prefix 'non-' (from Latin 'non' meaning 'not') attached to 'retroflex' (from Latin elements 'retro-' meaning 'back' and 'flectere' meaning 'to bend').
'retroflex' entered linguistic usage via Neo-Latin 'retroflexus' (literally 'bent back'), formed from Latin 'retro' + 'flectere'; the English combining form 'retroflex' was adopted in phonetics in the 19th century. The prefix 'non-' has long been used in English to create negations.
Originally 'retroflex' meant 'bent back' in the literal Latin sense; in phonetics it came to mean a consonant articulated with the tongue tip curled or bent back, and 'non-retroflex' came to mean 'lacking that bent-back articulation'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
not retroflex; describing a speech sound produced without curling the tongue tip back toward the palate (i.e., lacking the retroflex articulation).
In many descriptions of the language, the /t/ is described as non-retroflex.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/04 09:56