labiodental

American  

[ley-bee-oh-den-tl] / ˌleɪ bi oʊˈdɛn tl /

adjective

1. articulated with the lower lip touching the upper front teeth, as f or v, or, rarely, with the upper lip touching the lower front teeth.

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noun

1. a labiodental speech sound.

labiodental British  

/ ˌleɪbɪəʊˈdɛntəl /

adjective

1. pronounced by bringing the bottom lip into contact or near contact with the upper teeth, as for the fricative (f) in English fat, puff

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noun

1. a labiodental consonant

Etymology

Origin of labiodental

First recorded in 1660–70; labio- + dental

Example Sentences

And others point out that labiodental sounds have even been found among hunter-gatherers with edge-to-edge bites, like some Yanomami people of South America, who live mostly as isolated hunter-gatherers, fishers and horticulturists.

From New York Times

To test this hypothesis, they analyzed databases of the world’s consonants and showed contemporary hunter–gatherer languages contain only a fraction of the labiodental sounds that food-producer languages do.

From Scientific American

In particular, it becomes much easier to say “f” and “v,” which linguists call “labiodental” sounds.

From Washington Times

Retaining an overbite did not lead directly to labiodental consonants but it allowed people to make the sounds more easily, Blasi said.

From The Guardian

The w in Dutch is mostly labiodental; in the eastern parts before vowels bilabial pronunciation is heard.

From Project Gutenberg