palatalize

Syllables: pal·a·tal·ize/ˈpælətəlaɪz/

palatalize verb: to pronounce a sound with the tongue against the palate of the mouth when that sound normally would not be so pronounced.

Verb

palatalize (third-person singular simple present palatalizes, present participle palatalizing, simple past and past participle palatalized)

(transitive) To pronounce a sound with the tongue against the palate of the mouth when that sound normally would not be so pronounced.
- Most English speakers palatalize the letter t in the word "nature".
Synonyms:

palatize
(intransitive) To be pronounced with the tongue against the palate.

third-person singular present	palatalizes
present participle	palatalizing
past participle	palatalized
past	palatalized
alternative form	palatalise

From palatal + -ize.

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

What does palatalize mean?: Palatalize means to pronounce a sound with the tongue against the palate of the mouth when that sound normally would not be so pronounced.
What part of speech is palatalize?: Palatalize is a verb.
How do you pronounce palatalize?: Palatalize is pronounced /ˈpælətəlaɪz/.
What is the past tense of palatalize?: The past tense of palatalize is palatalized.

Adapted from Wiktionary: palatalize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Sapaa-palatalize.wav.

Cite this entry: “palatalize.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/palatalize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.