post-palatal
|post-pa-lat-al|
🇺🇸
/ˌpoʊst pəˈlætəl/
🇬🇧
/ˌpəʊst pəˈlæt(ə)l/
behind the palate
Etymology
'post-palatal' originates from Latin: the prefix 'post-' (Latin 'post') meaning 'after' or 'behind', combined with 'palatal', from Latin 'palatum' meaning 'palate'.
'palatal' comes via Medieval Latin 'palatālis' (from Latin 'palatum'); the prefix 'post-' is classical Latin. The compound 'post-palatal' is a modern descriptive formation in phonetic terminology, combining these elements to denote position relative to the palate.
The components originally meant 'after/behind' and 'palate'; over time the combined term came to refer specifically to a place of articulation just behind the palate in phonetic description.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
in phonetics, articulated at or immediately behind the hard palate (i.e., in the area between typical palatal and velar places of articulation).
Some fronted velar consonants are described as post-palatal rather than purely palatal or velar.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2026/01/07 08:34