pre-palatal
|pre-pal-a-tal|
/priːˈpælətəl/
before the palate (in front of the palate)
Etymology
'pre-palatal' originates from Latin elements: the prefix 'pre-' ultimately from Latin 'prae', where 'prae' meant 'before', combined with 'palatal' from Latin 'palatum', where 'palatum' meant 'palate'.
'pre-' (from Latin 'prae') + 'palatal' (from Latin 'palatum') were combined in modern linguistic usage to form 'pre-palatal'; the compound emerged as a technical phonetic term in the 19th–20th century.
Initially it literally meant 'before the palate'; over time it became a specialized phonetic term meaning 'articulated just in front of the hard palate'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Adjective 1
situated or articulated just in front of the hard palate; (in phonetics) describing a sound whose primary place of articulation is immediately anterior to the palate.
The fricative was described as pre-palatal because its place of articulation lies just anterior to the hard palate.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/04 14:32