adjective
- bent backward; exhibiting retroflexion.
- Phonetics. articulated with the tip of the tongue curled upward and back against or near the juncture of the hard and soft palates; cacuminal; cerebral; coronal.
adjective
- bent or curved backwards
- phonetics of, relating to, or involving retroflexion
1776, from Modern Latin retroflexus, past participle of retroflectere “to bend back,” from retro (see retro-) + flectere “to bend” (see flexible). The verb (1898) is a back-formation from retroflexed (1806), from the adjective.