bilabial

English

Etymology

From bi- +‎ labial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baɪˈleɪ.bi.əl/
• Rhymes: -eɪbiəl

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

bilabial (not comparable)

1. (phonetics) Articulated with both lips.
   • 1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 545:

     "Oh, yes. He talks a lot about phonemes and semantemes and bilabial fricatives. He has a van with recording apparatus in it. He's a good chap."

Derived terms

• bilabially
• nonbilabial
• prebilabial

Related terms

• labialized
• labiodental

Translations

articulated with both lips

• Arabic: شَفَتَانِيّ (šafatāniyy)
• Armenian: երկշրթնային (hy) (erkšrtʻnayin)
• Asturian: billabial
• Catalan: bilabial (ca)
• Czech: obouretný, retoretný, bilabiální
• Finnish: bilabiaalinen (fi)
• French: bilabial (fr)
• Galician: bilabial
• Georgian: წყვილბაგისმიერი (c̣q̇vilbagismieri), ბილაბიალური (bilabialuri)
• German: bilabial (de)
• Greek: διπλοχειλικός (diplocheilikós)
• Icelandic: tvívaramæltur
• Irish: déliopach
• Italian: bilabiale
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хоёр уруулын (xojor uruulyn)

  Mongolian script: ᠬᠣᠶᠠᠷ
  ᠤᠷᠤᠭᠤᠯ ᠦᠨ (qoyar uruɣul-ün)

• Navajo: daaʼii
• Polish: bilabialny, dwuwargowy (pl)
• Portuguese: bilabial (pt)
• Russian: билабиа́льный (ru) (bilabiálʹnyj), гу́бно-губно́й (ru) (gúbno-gubnój)
• Spanish: bilabial (es)
• Swedish: bilabial (sv)
• Welsh: dwywefusol

Noun

bilabial (plural bilabials)

1. (phonetics) A speech sound articulated with both lips.

Translations

a speech sound articulated with both lips

• Armenian: երկշրթնային (hy) (erkšrtʻnayin)
• Catalan: bilabial (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙唇音 / 双唇音 (zh) (shuāngchúnyīn)

• Czech: retnice (cs) f, bilabiála f
• Finnish: bilabiaali (fi)
• Galician: bilabial f
• German: Doppellippenlaut m, Zweilippenlaut m, Beidlippenlaut m, Bilabial (de) m
• Greek: διχειλικός (el) m (dicheilikós)
• Irish: déliopach m
• Italian: bilabiale f
• Japanese: 両唇音 (ryōshin'on)
• Portuguese: bilabial (pt) f
• Russian: билабиа́льный звук m (bilabiálʹnyj zvuk), гу́бно-губно́й звук m (gúbno-gubnój zvuk)
• Serbo-Croatian: bilabijal (sh) m, dvousnenik (sh) m
• Spanish: bilabial (es) f
• Vietnamese: âm đôi môi

Catalan

Etymology

From bi- +‎ labial.

Adjective

bilabial m or f (masculine and feminine plural bilabials)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (articulated with both lips)

Noun

bilabial f (plural bilabials)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (a sound articulated with both lips)

Further reading

• “bilabial”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “bilabial”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “bilabial” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “bilabial” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Etymology

From bi- +‎ labial.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Adjective

bilabial (feminine bilabiale, masculine plural bilabiaux, feminine plural bilabiales)

1. bilabial

Galician

Etymology

From bi- +‎ labial.

Adjective

bilabial m or f (plural bilabiais)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (articulated with both lips)

Noun

bilabial f (plural bilabiais)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (a sound articulated with both lips)

Further reading

• “bilabial”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Adjective

bilabial (strong nominative masculine singular bilabialer, not comparable)

1. bilabial

Declension

Positive forms of bilabial (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist bilabial	sie ist bilabial	es ist bilabial	sie sind bilabial
strong declension (without article)	nominative	bilabialer	bilabiale	bilabiales	bilabiale
	genitive	bilabialen	bilabialer	bilabialen	bilabialer
	dative	bilabialem	bilabialer	bilabialem	bilabialen
	accusative	bilabialen	bilabiale	bilabiales	bilabiale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der bilabiale	die bilabiale	das bilabiale	die bilabialen
	genitive	des bilabialen	der bilabialen	des bilabialen	der bilabialen
	dative	dem bilabialen	der bilabialen	dem bilabialen	den bilabialen
	accusative	den bilabialen	die bilabiale	das bilabiale	die bilabialen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein bilabialer	eine bilabiale	ein bilabiales	(keine) bilabialen
	genitive	eines bilabialen	einer bilabialen	eines bilabialen	(keiner) bilabialen
	dative	einem bilabialen	einer bilabialen	einem bilabialen	(keinen) bilabialen
	accusative	einen bilabialen	eine bilabiale	ein bilabiales	(keine) bilabialen

Portuguese

Etymology

From bi- +‎ labial.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bi.la.biˈaw/ [bi.la.bɪˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /bi.laˈbjaw/ [bi.laˈbjaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bi.lɐˈbjal/ [bi.lɐˈβjaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bi.lɐˈbjal/ [bi.lɐˈβjaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bi.lɐˈbja.li/ [bi.lɐˈβja.li]

• Hyphenation: bi‧la‧bi‧al

Adjective

bilabial m or f (plural bilabiais)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (articulated with both lips)

Derived terms

• bilabialmente

Noun

bilabial f (plural bilabiais)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (a sound articulated with both lips)

Further reading

• “bilabial”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bilabial”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bilabial.

Adjective

bilabial m or n (feminine singular bilabială, masculine plural bilabiali, feminine/neuter plural bilabiale)

1. bilabial

Declension

Declension of bilabial

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	bilabial		bilabială		bilabiali	bilabiale
	definite	bilabialul		bilabiala		bilabialii	bilabialele
genitive- dative	indefinite	bilabial		bilabiale		bilabiali	bilabiale
	definite	bilabialului		bilabialei		bilabialilor	bilabialelor

Spanish

Etymology

From bi- +‎ labial.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bilaˈbjal/ [bi.laˈβ̞jal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: bi‧la‧bial

Adjective

bilabial m or f (masculine and feminine plural bilabiales)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (articulated with both lips)

Noun

bilabial f (plural bilabiales)

1. (phonetics) bilabial (a sound articulated with both lips)

Further reading

• “bilabial”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Swedish

Etymology

bi- +‎ labial

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbiːlabɪˌɑːl/

Adjective

bilabial (not comparable)

1. (phonology, phonetics) bilabial

Declension

Inflection of bilabial

Indefinite	positive	comparative	superlative1
common singular	bilabial	—	—
neuter singular	bilabialt	—	—
plural	bilabiala	—	—
masculine plural2	bilabiale	—	—
Definite	positive	comparative	superlative
masculine singular3	bilabiale	—	—
all	bilabiala	—	—

¹ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
² Dated or archaic.
³ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

Noun

bilabial c

1. (phonetics, phonology) bilabial consonant

Declension

Declension of bilabial

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	bilabial	bilabials
	definite	bilabialen	bilabialens
plural	indefinite	bilabialer	bilabialers
	definite	bilabialerna	bilabialernas

References

• bilabial in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• bilabial in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• bilabial in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)