Labialize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To pronounce a sound by rounding or protruding the lips ; to represent a sound with a written or spoken symbol indicating lip rounding ; to produce or articulate speech sounds involving lip movement
2. To create speech sounds through lip shaping and rounding ; to mark or denote sounds that require lip rounding in phonetics ; to articulate or form sounds with the lips involved in pronunciation
3. To form a phonetic element by moving the lips into a rounded shape ; to indicate by notation the lip rounding aspect of a sound ; to generate or express speech sounds characterized by lip articulation

Etymology: "Labialize" is a plain technical formation: the adjective "labial," meaning "of the lips," joined to the causative suffix "-ize," which turns an adjective into a verb meaning "to make or cause to be" something. So "to labialize" means to make a sound labial, shaping or rounding it with the lips. The adjective itself traces to Latin "labium," "lip," which is also the source of words like "labial" in phonetics and "labium" in anatomy. The suffix "-ize" comes from Greek "-izein," used to form verbs of making or doing, and it entered English in large numbers through Latin and French. Its use here is typical of phonetic terminology, where linguists needed precise verbs for describing how a sound is produced. Phoneticians built "labialize" on the same pattern as other articulatory terms, so the verb describes an action of the lips on a sound rather than a loose description of speech in general.

Synonyms: pronounce with rounded lips, articulate with lips