Velar consonant
| Places of articulation |
| Labial consonant |
| Bilabial consonant |
| Labiodental consonant |
| Linguolabial consonant |
| Coronal consonant |
| Interdental consonant |
| Dental consonant |
| Retroflex consonant |
| Alveolar consonant |
| Postalveolar consonant |
| Alveolo-palatal consonant |
| Dorsal consonant |
| Palatal consonant |
| Labial-palatal consonant |
| Velar consonant |
| Labial-velar consonant |
| Uvular consonant |
| Pharyngeal consonant |
| Epiglottal consonant |
| Glottal consonant |
| Place of articulation |
| Edit this box |
Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).
The velar consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:
| IPA Symbol | Name | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| k | Voiceless velar plosive | English | [kʰæp] | cap |
| ɡ | Voiced velar plosive | English | [ɡɛt] | get |
| ŋ | Velar nasal | English | [ɹʌŋ] | rung |
| x | Voiceless velar fricative | Hebrew | [mixel] | מיכאל (="Michael") |
| ɣ | Voiced velar fricative | Margi | [ɣàfə́] | (="arrow") |
| ɰ | Velar approximant | Spanish | [paɰa] | paga (="pay", imperative) 1 |
| ʟ | Velar lateral approximant | Mid-Waghi | [aʟaʟe] | (="dizzy") |
| w | Labio-velar approximant | English | [wɪtʃ] | witch |
| ʍ | Voiceless labio-velar fricative | English | [ʍɪtʃ] | which 2 |
Notes:
- Intervocalic 'g' in Spanish often described instead as a very lightly articulated voiced velar fricative.
- For English dialectss that distinguish between which and witch
Palatalised velars (like English [k] in keen or cube) are sometimes referred to as palatovelars. Many languages also have labiovelar phonemes, including the approximant [w] and others given symbols like [kw] etc. In these the articulation is accompanied by rounding of the lips.