alveolar

From alveolus +‎ -ar.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /alˈviː.əl.ə/, /ˌal.viˈəʊ.lə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (Southern England):

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ælˈvi.əl.ɚ/, /ælˈvi.lɚ/
• Rhymes: -iːələ(ɹ), -əʊlə(ɹ)

• Audio (US):

  (file)

alveolar (not comparable)

1. (anatomy, relational) Relating to the alveoli (small air sacs) of the lungs.
2. (anatomy, relational) Relating to the jaw ridge containing the tooth sockets.
3. (phonetics) Formed with the tongue touching or approaching the inner ridge of the gums of the upper front teeth.
   • 2015 December 4, “Discrimination of Multiple Coronal Stop Contrasts in Wubuy (Australia): A Natural Referent Consonant Account”, in PLOS ONE‎^[1], →DOI:

     In the case of the Wubuy alveolar versus retroflex contrast for instance, we argue that the phonetic overlap is so great that native listeners can behave as if this were an instance of a good and a 'less good' instance of a single category (CG).

4. (anatomy, relational) Relating to the glands with secretory cells about a central space.

• alveolary

alveolar (plural alveolars)

1. (phonetics) An alveolar consonant.

   Synonym: (obsolete) gingival

• “alveolar”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “alveolar”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

alveolar c (singular definite alveolaren, plural indefinite alveolarer)

1. (phonetics) alveolar

Adjective form of Alveole (“alveolus”).

• IPA^(key): [alveoˈlaːɐ̯]

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːɐ̯
• Hyphenation: al‧ve‧o‧lar

alveolar (strong nominative masculine singular alveolarer, not comparable)

1. (phonetics) alveolar

• Alveolar

• “alveolar” in Duden online
• “alveolar” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

alveolar m

1. indefinite plural of alveol

alveolar m or f (plural alveolares)

1. (anatomy) alveolar (relating to the alveoli of the lungs)
2. (anatomy) alveolar (relating to the jaw ridge)
3. (phonetics, of a phoneme) alveolar (produced on the jaw ridge)

alveolar f (plural alveolares)

1. (phonetics) alveolar (a consonant produced on the jaw ridge)

• “alveolar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “alveolar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French alvéolaire.

alveolar m or n (feminine singular alveolară, masculine plural alveolari, feminine/neuter plural alveolare)

1. alveolar

• IPA^(key): /alʋeǒlaːr/
• Hyphenation: al‧ve‧o‧lar

alveòlār m inan (Cyrillic spelling алвео̀ла̄р)

1. an alveolar

   Synonym: dèsnīk

From alvéolo +‎ -ar.

• IPA^(key): /albeoˈlaɾ/ [al.β̞e.oˈlaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: al‧ve‧o‧lar

alveolar m or f (masculine and feminine plural alveolares)

1. alveolar

alveolar f (plural alveolares)

1. alveolar

• “alveolar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

From German alveolar

• IPA^(key): /alvɛʊˈlɑːr/

alveolar (not comparable)

1. (phonology, phonetics) alveolar

alveolar c

1. (phonetics, phonology) alveolar consonant

• alveolar in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• alveolar in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• alveolar in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)