retroflex
adjective /ˈretrəfleks/
/ˈretrəfleks/
- (medical) (of a part of the body) turned backwards
- (phonetics) (of a speech sound) produced with the end of the tongue turned up against the hard palate
Word Originlate 18th cent.: from Latin retroflex- ‘bent backwards’, from the verb retroflectere, from retro ‘backwards’ + flectere ‘to bend’.