Meaning of labial in English:
labial
Translate labial into Spanish
adjective
1Anatomy
Relating to the lips.- 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.’
- 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.’
- 1.1Dentistry (of the surface of a tooth) adjacent to the lips.
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
PhoneticsA 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’.’
Origin
Late 16th century from medieval Latin labialis, from Latin labium ‘lip’.
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