rounded: pronounced with the lips rounded (but not closed). In English and Spanish and many other languages the back vowels are rounded and non-back vowels are not. (The rounding enhances certain natural acoustic tendencies of the back vowels compared to the non-back ones.) In other languages, such as French and German, front vowels may be rounded or back vowels unrounded. (See the diagram of phonetic symbols for vowels.) The semivowel w is rounded, as are labialized consonants like [kw] (the "qu" sound of "quit" or "queen"). [Spanish: redondeado]