velar

noun

a consonant produced with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate

adjective

produced with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate (as `k' in `cat' and `g' in `gun' and `ng' in `sing')

of or relating to the velum

Roots

velumvel- · Latin · veil, sail (soft palate)aris-ar · Latin · pertaining to

Synonyms & related words for velar

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of velar. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to velar

Explore words related to velar — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include yogh, palatalize, nonfricative, fricative, labiovelar, velarization, labialized, affricate. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Where does velar come from?

The word velar breaks down into 2 roots of Latin origin: vel, from Latin velum (“veil, sail (soft palate)”); and -ar, from Latin aris (“pertaining to”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.