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Glite Dictionary
🗣️ Between teeth (speech) 🦷 Between teeth (mouth)
interdental

interdental

1 7.6
A sound made by putting the tongue between the teeth
  • adjective
  • /ˌɪntərˈdɛntəl/
  • Specialized
: interdental
  • The sounds that differ are the English interdental fricatives /θ/, /ð/, nasal /n/, and liquid /l/ (Keshavarz & Ingram, 2002).

Examples

  • In phonetics, an interdental sound occurs when the tongue makes contact with the area between the upper and lower teeth.

  • Children learning English often struggle with interdental sounds like 'th' because they require specific tongue placement.

  • The sounds /θ/ and /ð/ are classified as interdental because they are produced with the tongue placed between the teeth.

Surface Forms

interdental positive

Morphology

interdental = dental (transparent) = inter + dent + al

The adjective is formed by adding the prefix 'inter-' ('between') to 'dental' ('relating to the teeth'), producing the straightforward meaning 'between the teeth'.

Etymology

Interdental comes from inter- 'between' and dental 'relating to teeth'. So an interdental speech sound is made by putting the tongue 'between the teeth', like the 'th' in 'think'.