velar

[ vee-ler ]

adjective
  1. of or relating to a velum, especially the soft palate.

  2. Phonetics. articulated with the back of the tongue held close to or touching the soft palate.

noun
  1. Phonetics. a velar sound.

Origin of velar

1
From the Latin word vēlāris, dating back to 1720–30. See velum, -ar1

Other words from velar

  • post·ve·lar, adjective
  • pseu·do·ve·lar, adjective

Words Nearby velar

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use velar in a sentence

  • Also called velar (from velum, for which see § 8) and more usually, but less accurately, guttural.

  • The metastoma, which has become in Ammocœtes the lower lip supplied by the velar or mandibular branch of the trigeminal nerve ; 2.

    The Origin of Vertebrates | Walter Holbrook Gaskell
  • What, then, are these velar folds, and how is it that the tubular muscles of these two segments become the velar muscles?

    The Origin of Vertebrates | Walter Holbrook Gaskell
  • This is that part of the velar folds which comes together in the middle line and closes the entrance into the respiratory chamber.

    The Origin of Vertebrates | Walter Holbrook Gaskell
  • The velar or mandibular nerve supplies in Ammocœtes the muscles of the lower lip.

    The Origin of Vertebrates | Walter Holbrook Gaskell

British Dictionary definitions for velar

velar

/ (ˈviːlə) /


adjective
  1. of, relating to, or attached to a velum: velar tentacles

  2. phonetics articulated with the soft palate and the back of the tongue, as in the sounds (k), (ɡ), or (ŋ)

Origin of velar

1
C18: from Latin vēlāris, from vēlum veil

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012