Oxford English and Spanish Dictionary, Synonyms, and Spanish to English Translator

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Meaning of labial in English:

labial

Pronunciation /ˈleɪbɪəl/

Translate labial into Spanish

adjective

1Anatomy
Relating to the lips.
1. 1.1Dentistry (of the surface of a tooth) adjacent to the lips.
  ‘The crests of the ectoloph run to stylar cusps on the labial side of the tooth.’
  ‘The P4 has a small parastyle and the labial side of this tooth is longer than the lingual side.’
  ‘Ankylosis is normally on the labial side of the tooth only, or on the labial side and at the bottom of the groove.’
  ‘The labial and lingual surfaces are either more or less smooth, or covered with fine anastomosing striae.’
  ‘Enamel is confined to the anterior and labial surface of the crown.’
  ‘The lingual part of the transverse valley is slightly deeper than the labial part.’
2. 1.2Zoology Resembling or serving as a lip, liplike part, or labium.
  ‘The organic particles are separated by size in sorting areas on the labial palps and are then directed into the mouth.’
  ‘Expression is seen, however, in the tips of the antennae, maxillary and labial palps, and legs.’
  ‘The only external structures are the labial palps; in some groups, there are sensory tentacles and photoreceptors at the edge of the mantle.’
  ‘The paracone is the largest labial cusp, up to twice the height of the parastyle; the cusps posterior to it decrease evenly in size.’
  ‘Moreover, the labial cusps of Desmatodon are not as strongly developed as those in Diadectes.’
2Phonetics
(of a consonant) requiring partial or complete closure of the lips (e.g. p, b, f, v, m, w), or (of a vowel) requiring rounded lips (e.g. oo in moon).
- ‘That seems to be a complete invention, as both the sound and the video seem to me to indicate that there is a final labial consonant.’

noun

Phonetics

A labial sound.
‘Chapter 4 describes cases where coronals undergo assimilation but dorsals and labials do not.’
- ‘I guess that the great typological difference in the use of labials can speak for the great genetic difference in AmerIndian languages.’
- ‘Thus, the broad versus slender contrast may, in the weak voiced labials, be labelled as ‘w versus v’, but in the strong voiced labials as ‘round b versus spread b’.’