laryngeal

• laryngal

Derived from New Latin laryngeus, from Ancient Greek λᾰ́ρυγγος (lárungos), genitive of λᾰ́ρυγξ (lárunx).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ləˈɹɪn.dʒi.əl/, /læɹˈɪn.dʒəl/, /ˌlæɹ.ɪnˈdʒiː.əl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ləˈɹɪn.dʒi.əl/, /ˌlæɹ.ɪnˈdʒiː.əl/

laryngeal (comparative more laryngeal, superlative most laryngeal)

1. Of or pertaining to a larynx or larynges.
   • 1871, Journal of Psychological Medicine (volume 5, page 83)

     At sight of it there commenced a series of laryngeal spasms, with clutchings at his throat, far more violent than any I had heretofore seen.

laryngeal (plural laryngeals)

1. (phonetics) A sound uttered by using the larynx.
2. (Indo-European linguistics) In Proto-Indo-European, one of the typically three reconstructed consonants usually marked as <h₁>, <h₂> and <h₃>.

The term laryngeal in Indo-European studies is but an anachronistic misnomer, retained only because it has been established as a standard term for those three phonemes. The exact phonetic value of Proto-Indo-European laryngeals is unknown, but it's generally agreed that not all of them were real laryngeals.