Meanings
noundark l (plural dark ls or dark l's)
plural dark ls · plural dark l's
- human sciencesA consonantal sound, the velarized alveolar lateral approximant, represented by ⟨ɫ⟩ in the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Occasionally one meets with people in the South of England who do not differentiate between clear l's and dark l's to the extent mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.
1956, Daniel Jones, The Pronunciation of English, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 91
Cite this entry
APA
dark l. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dark%20l
MLA
“dark l.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dark%20l. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “dark l,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/dark%20l.
Source: dark l on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.