Retroflexing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of producing a speech sound by curling the tip of the tongue backward toward the roof of the mouth
2. Forming a consonant sound by bending the tongue back in the mouth during pronunciation
3. Creating a specific phonetic sound that involves the tongue tip being turned back against the palate

Etymology: "Retroflexing" is the present participle form of "retroflex," so it describes the act of curling the tongue tip backward. The root is Latin "rētrōflectere," meaning "to bend back," built from "re-" (back) and "flectere" (to bend, turn). Its perfect participle, "rētrōflexus," gave English the adjective and verb "retroflex," and that bending image is exactly what happens when the tongue tip curls up and back toward the roof of the mouth. The same Latin verb "flectere" sits behind a family of English words, including "flex," "reflect," and "inflection," all carrying the sense of bending or turning. "Reflect" originally meant to bend back, as light bends back from a surface, which makes "retroflex" a close cousin of that older physical sense.

Synonyms: retracted, curved backward