To make the IPA /ʈ/ sound, one must first place their tongue in a retroflex position.
Source: tatoeba (10992937)
Retroflex
//ˈɹɛt.ɹəʊ.flɛks//
Synonyms for "retroflex" (190 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (38)
Strong matches (57)
Related words (95)
morphophonememutemutednarrownasalnasalizedocclusiveopenoxytonepalatalpalatalizedparasitic vowelpeakpharyngealpharyngealizationpharyngealizedphonephonemephonemicphonetic
Show 71 more words
phonicpitchpitchedplosiveposttonicprothetic vowelpull backrecederecidivaterecurvereflectreflexreflexedregressrelapseretrocederetroflexedretrograderetrogressreturnrevertroundroundedsagsegmental phonemesemivowelslip backsoftsonantsonorityspeech soundstopstoppedstressedstrongsubapicalsurdswagsweepsyllabicsyllabic nucleussyllabic peaksyllabletensethickthroatytonaltonictransition soundtriphthongturntwangyunaccentedunroundedunstressedvaultvelarvocablevocalicvocoidvoicevoicedvoiced soundvoicelessvoiceless soundvoicingvowelvowellikeweakwidewind
Adjective(2 words)
Verb(1 words)
Adjective(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
8 entriesSynonyms
6 entriesRelated terms
3 entriesderived
2 entriesderived from
1 entrieshas context
2 entriesmanner of
2 entriesrelated to
13 entriessimilar
1 entriesTranslations
61 translations across 19 languages.
Arabic
1 entries- مُرْتَدّ adj (bent backwards)
Bulgarian
1 entries- извит назад adj (bent backwards)
Chinese Mandarin
3 entries- 卷舌音 noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
- 翹舌音 /翘舌音 noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
- 舌尖後音 /舌尖后音 noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
Dutch
2 entries- retroflex adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- retroflex noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
Finnish
3 entries- retrofleksinen adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- taaksepäin taipunut adj (bent backwards)
- retrofleksi noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
French
1 entries- rétroflexe adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
German
4 entries- apiko-postalveolar adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue tip approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- lamino-postalveolar adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue blade approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- retroflex adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- subapiko-palatal adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue underside approaches/touches the palate)
Greek
1 entries- ανάστροφο adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
Irish
1 entries- aislúbtha adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
Japanese
2 entries- そり舌音 noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
- 反り舌音 noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
Manx
2 entries- cooyl-chroymmit adj (bent backwards)
- cooyl-chroymmit adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
Norwegian Bokmål
4 entries- apikal postalveolar adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue tip approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- laminal postalveolar adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue blade approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- retrofleks adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- sub-apikal palatal adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue underside approaches/touches the palate)
Polish
4 entries- apikalno-postalweolarny adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue tip approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- apikalny postalweolarny adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue tip approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- apikalny zadziąsłowy adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue tip approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
- laminalny postalweolarny adj (of pronunciation in which the tongue blade approaches/touches the back of the alveolar ridge)
Portuguese
3 entries- retroflexo adj (bent backwards)
- retroflexo adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- retroflexa noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
Punjabi
2 entries- ٹَوَرْگ adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- ਟਵਰਗ adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
Russian
2 entries- ретрофле́ксный adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
- ретрофле́ксный согла́сный noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
Swedish
1 entries- retroflex adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
Thai
1 entries- เสียงปลายลิ้นม้วน noun (any of the retroflex consonants)
Welsh
1 entries- olblyg adj (of any of the retroflex pronunciations)
Sample sentences
11 total sentences available.
The voiced retroflex flap appears as a phoneme in Bengali.
Source: tatoeba (11247774)
Retroflex consonants are fun to say.
Source: tatoeba (11487583)
Retroflex consonants are commonly found in the languages of the Indian subcontinent.
Source: tatoeba (11487585)
Showing 4 of 11 available sentences.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.