IPA reference · consonant
ɥ — labial-palatal approximant
The consonantal version of /y/ — a rounded /j/.
How to make the labial-palatal approximant
Tongue in the /i/ position with rounded lips, gliding into the following vowel. It is /w/ with the tongue moved forward.
This sound does not occur in standard English. That means there is no word you can say to find it by accident; you have to build it from the articulatory instruction above and check it against a recording.
Languages that use it
Sounds it gets confused with
Most pronunciation errors are not random — they are a substitution of the nearest sound the speaker already owns. These are the usual substitutions for ɥ, and each one is a minimal-pair drill waiting to happen.
The default substitution, which turns *huit* into "weet".
What this means for learners
Almost entirely a French problem, and it contrasts with /w/: *Louis* versus *lui*.
Teaching this sound
Describing a sound in words gets a student roughly half the way there. The other half is hearing it produced correctly, immediately after producing it incorrectly, with both versions available to replay. That is the argument for recording during the lesson rather than after it: the student leaves with your model of ɥ attached to the actual words they got wrong, not to an abstract chart.
Frequently asked questions
What sound does the IPA symbol ɥ make?
ɥ is the labial-palatal approximant. The consonantal version of /y/ — a rounded /j/. It does not occur in standard English.
How do you pronounce ɥ?
Tongue in the /i/ position with rounded lips, gliding into the following vowel. It is /w/ with the tongue moved forward.
Which languages have the labial-palatal approximant?
Among the languages covered here: French (huit, “eight”); French (nuit, “night”).
What is the difference between ɥ and w?
The default substitution, which turns *huit* into "weet".