Retroflex consonant

Places of articulation

Retroflex consonant

Alveolar consonant

Postalveolar consonant

Alveolo-palatal consonant

Dorsal consonant

Palatal consonant

Labial-palatal consonant

Velar consonant

Labial-velar consonant

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Retroflex consonants are articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up and back so the bottom of the tip touches the roof of the mouth. Retroflex consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet:

IPA	Description	Example
IPA	Description	Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
	retroflex nasal	Swedish	Vänern	[vɛː.n̪əɳ]	Vänern
	voiceless retroflex plosive	Vietnamese	Nha Trang	[ɲɑ.ʈɑŋ]	Nha Trang
	voiced retroflex plosive	Swedish	nord	[nuːɖ]	north
	voiceless retroflex fricative	Mandarin	上海 (Shànghǎi)	[ʂɑŋ˥˩.xaj˨˩˦]	Shanghai
	voiced retroflex fricative	Mandarin	朱镕基 (Zhū Róngjì)	[ɖ̥͡ʐ̥u˥.ʐʊŋ˧˥.d̥͡ʑ̥i˥˩]	Zhu Rongji
	retroflex approximant	Tamil	தமிழ் (Tamil)	[tæmɪɻ]	Tamil
	lateral retroflex approximant	Swedish	Karlstad	[kaɭ.stɑːd̪]	Karlstad
	retroflex flap	Japanese	折り紙 (origami)	[oɽigami]]	origami

Note: In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the symbols for retroflex consonants are typically the same as for the alveolar consonants, but with the addition of a right-facing hook to the bottom of the symbol.

Retroflex consonants are common in the Indo-Aryan languages and the Dravidian languages; and can also be found in languages such as Mandarin Chinese, Javanese, Vietnamese, Swedish, Norwegian and some languages of Southern Italy and Sardinia.

Retroflex consonant

See also