lip reader
2
4.7
- noun
- /lɪp ˈriːdər/
:
lector de labios
- Lip reader is 90% certain the shooter was saying, " Happy Valentine's Day."
- an expert lip reader
Examples
-
Fortunately, I'm an expert lip-reader.
-
Have you brought in a lip reader?
Fiction book (2002) -
Did you get a lip reader in?
-
A lip reader came in.
Fiction book (2002) -
In 2016, the program far outperformed an expert human lip reader, reading four times as many clips without error.
Academic text (2018) -
She had always been a proficient lip reader.
Blog text (23) -
Cynthia Lunceford was born with a severe hearing loss that she compensated for by becoming a master lip reader.
-
A man who's an expert lip reader reports that John and Bernard are discussing religion as they sit on the ledge.
-
Fortunately, I'm an expert lip reader who can understand conversations without hearing them.
Surface Forms
Morphology
lip + reader
The meaning 'a person or device that reads/analyzes lips' is directly compositional from 'lip' (mouth edge) + 'reader' (one who reads), so a learner who knows both words can infer it denotes an agent that reads lips. This noun‑combination follows a common English pattern (noun + reader/agent) and has clear parallels in other languages, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Lip reader comes from the simple image of 'reading' someone's mouth like a book. A lip reader watches the movement of the lip and 'reads' the words without sound, so the term means 'a person who understands speech by watching lips'.