BilabialHere we have information about bilabials. We will define what a bilabial is, show you some examples of words that contain a bilabial, and even provide audio recordings so that you can listen to these examples, solidifying your overall understanding of bilabials.
A bilabial place of articulation occurs at the very front of your mouth. This means that the sound is produced by putting your lips together. The root “bi” means “two,” (meaning both lips - there are two!) and labial refers to lips. If you break it down like this, it is easier to remember that bilabial essentially just means “two lips.”
Two sounds that are classified as bilabials include p and m, which are both notated on the IPA chart of American English consonants.
A couple of examples of words that contain these sounds are “Pack” and “Mop.” Below you can see their IPA transcriptions with the bilabial indicated by a color.
We have also recorded these words for your convenience. For each example, you will first hear the pronunciation of the bilabial, followed by the word.
Pack = [pæk]
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Mop = [map]
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More Information
American English IPA Consonants
Go here to view all of the American English IPA consonants in their sound classification chart.
Labio-dental
Go here to learn about the next place of articulation on our list.