Labialized consonants

Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Consonants pronounced this way are said to be labialized and are usually transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet by affixing a superscript w, , to the base letter. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.

consonantal sound

velar consonant that is labialized, with a /w/-like secondary articulation, such as [kʷ, ɡʷ, xʷ, ɣʷ, ŋʷ]