palatal hook
A 'palatal hook' can refer to an orthodontic tool or a typographic/phonetic symbol indicating specific pronunciations.
🇺🇸 US Voice:
🇬🇧 UK Voice:
Definition
C1Orthodontics
(technical)A small attachment on the inner side of braces used to connect elastic bands.
Example
- The orthodontist added a palatal hook to help align her teeth with elastic bands.
C2Phonetics
(technical, academic)A diacritic mark indicating that a consonant is articulated with the tongue near the hard palate.
Example
- In the International Phonetic Alphabet, a palatal hook shows that a consonant is palatalized.
C2Typography
(rare, historical)A hook-shaped diacritic formerly used to denote consonantal palatalization, replaced by a superscript symbol.
Similar
Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "palatal hook":