# Voiceless bilabial plosive

The voiceless bilabial plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in most spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨p⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p.

## Features

Features of the voiceless bilabial plosive:
* Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
* Its place of articulation is bilabial, which means it is articulated with both lips.
* Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Varieties

| IPA | Description |
| p | plain p |
| pʰ | aspirated p |
| pˠ | velarized p |
| pʲ | palatalized p |
| pʷ | labialized p |
| p̚ | p with no audible release |
| p̌ | voiced p |
| p͈ | tense p |
| pʼ | ejective p |

## Occurrence

Research has shown that incidental learning positively impacts the acquisition of the /p/ sound for Arabic speakers and other EFL learners. This is particularly interesting given that the stop /p/ is missing from about 10% of languages that have a /b/. (See voiced velar stop for another such gap.) This is an areal feature of the circum-Saharan zone (Africa north of the equator plus the Arabian Peninsula). It is not known how old this areal feature is, and whether it might be a recent phenomenon due to Arabic as a prestige language, or whether Arabic was itself affected by a more ancient areal pattern. It is found in other areas as well; for example, Fijian, Onge, and many Papuan languages have /b/ but no /p/.
Nonetheless, the /p/ sound is very common cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain /p/, and some distinguish more than one variety. Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, have a two-way contrast between the aspirated /pʰ/ and the plain /p/ (also transcribed as [p˭] in extensions to the IPA).

### Examples

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Adyghe | Adyghe | паӏо / پائۆ / paio | | 'hat' | |
| Arabic | Algerian | پاپيش/pāpīš | [paːpiːʃ] | 'beautiful girls' | |
| Arabic | Hejazi | بول/پول/pōl | [po̞ːl] | 'Paul' | Only used in loanwords, transcribed and pronounced as ⟨ب⟩ by many speakers. |
| Arabic | Egyptian | كبش/kabš | [kɛpʃ] | 'ram' | Allophone of [b] before unvoiced consonants. Also used in loanwords. |
| Armenian | Eastern | պապիկ/papik | | 'grandpa' | Contrasts with aspirated form |
| Assyrian | Assyrian | ܦܬܐ pata | [pata] | 'face' | |
| Basque | Basque | harrapatu | [(h)arapatu] | 'to catch' | |
| Bengali | Bengali | পথ | [pɔtʰ] | 'road' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | por | [ˈpɔ(ɾ)] | 'fear' | See Catalan phonology |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | путене/putene | [put̬ʲɛ'nɛ] | 'quail' | |
| Czech | Czech | pes | [pɛs] | 'dog' | See Czech phonology |
| Danish | Standard | bog | [ˈpɔ̽wˀ] | 'book' | Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨b̥⟩ or ⟨b⟩. It may be partially voiced [b] in the intervocalic position. It contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨pʰ⟩ or ⟨p⟩. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Dutch | plicht | [plɪxt] | 'duty' | See Dutch phonology |
| English | English | pack | [pʰæk] | 'pack' | See English phonology |
| Esperanto | Esperanto | tempo | [ˈtempo] | 'time' | See Esperanto phonology |
| Filipino | Filipino | pato | [paˈto] | 'duck' | |
| Finnish | Finnish | pappa | [ˈpɑpːɑ] | 'grandpa' | See Finnish phonology |
| French | French | pomme | [pɔm] | 'apple' | See French phonology |
| Gan Chinese | Nanchangnese | 把戲 | [pa˨˩ ɕi˩] | 'magic' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanchangnese phonology |
| German | German | Pack | [pʰak] | 'pile' | See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Greek | πόδι / pódi | [ˈpo̞ði] | 'leg' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Gujarati | Gujarati | પગ/pag | [pəɡ] | 'foot' | See Gujarati phonology |
| Hakka Chinese | Meizhounese | 河壩 / ho² ba⁴ | [ho˩ pa˥] | 'river' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Meizhounese phonology |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | פּקיד/pakid | [pakid] | 'clerk' | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Hindustani | Urdu | پل/pal | [pəl] | 'moment' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | पल / pal | [pəl] | 'moment' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | pápa | [ˈpaːpɒ] | 'pope' | See Hungarian phonology |
| Italian | Italian | papà | [paˈpa] | 'dad' | See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | ポスト / posuto | [posɯto] | 'mailbox' | See Japanese phonology |
| Kabardian | Kabardian | пэ / پە / pė | | 'nose' | |
| Khmer | Khmer | ពន្យល់ / pônyól | [pɔnjɔl] | 'to explain' | See Khmer phonology |
| Korean | Korean | 빛 / bit | [pit̚] | 'light' | See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Northern | پۆر / por | [ˈpʰoːɾ] | 'hair' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Central | پیرۆزە / píroze | [pʰiːɾoːzæ] | 'lammergeier' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Southern | پۊنگه / pûûnga | [pʰʉːŋa] | 'pennyroyal' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Lakota | Lakota | púza | [ˈpʊza] | 'dry' | |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian | pastatas | [ˈpaːstɐtɐs] | 'building' | See Lithuanian phonology |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | bëlleg | [ˈpələɕ] | 'cheap' | Less often voiced [b]. It is usually transcribed /b/, and contrasts with voiceless aspirated form, which is usually transcribed /p/. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | пее/pee | [pɛː] | 'sing' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Malay | Malay | panas | [pänäs] | 'hot' | Often unreleased in syllable codas so /p/ is read as [p̚] instead in lembap [ləmbap̚] 'damp'. See Malay phonology |
| Maltese | Maltese | aptit | [apˈtit] | 'appetite' | |
| Mandarin | Dungan | бонцу | [pɑŋ˨˦ t͡sʰou˨˦] | 'to assist' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Dungan phonology |
| Mandarin | Nanjingnese | 半大子 | [pɑŋ˦ tɑ˦ tsz̩] | 'teenager' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nanjingnese phonology |
| Mandarin | Sichuanese | 不算事 / bu² suan⁴ si⁴ | [pu˨˩ suan˨˩˧ sz̩˨˩˧] | 'ineffective' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Sichuanese phonology |
| Mandarin | Standard | 爆炸 / bàozhà | | 'to explode' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Mandarin | Xi'annese | 迸 | [pəŋ˦] | 'mattock' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Xi'annese phonology |
| Marathi | Marathi | पाऊस/paa'uus/pā'ūs | [pɑːˈuːs] | 'rain' | See Marathi phonology |
| Min Chinese | Hokkien | 咖啡 / ko-pi | [ko˨ pi˦] | 'coffee' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hokkien phonology |
| Min Chinese | Teochew | 僻 / piah$^4$ | [pʰiaʔ˨] | 'remote' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Teochew phonology |
| Min Chinese | Fuzhounese | 白撞 / băh-dâung | [paʔ˨˩ lɑuŋ˨˦˨] | 'trespasser' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Fuzhounese phonology |
| Mutsun | Mutsun | po·čor | [poːt͡ʃor] | 'a sore' | |
| Nepali | Nepali | पिता/pitā | [pit̪ä] | 'father' | See Nepali phonology |
| Norwegian | Norwegian | pappa | [pɑpːɑ] | 'dad' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Odia | Odia | ପଥର/pathara | [pɔʈʰɔrɔ] | 'stone' | Contrasts with aspirated form. |
| Pashto | Pashto | پانير/pa'nir | [pɑˈnir] | 'cheese' | |
| Persian | Persian | پول/pul | [pul] | 'money' | |
| Pirahã | Pirahã | pibaóí | [ˈpìbàóí̯] | 'otter' | |
| Polish | Polish | pas | | 'belt' | See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Portuguese | pai | [paj] | 'father' | See Portuguese phonology |
| Punjabi | Punjabi | ਪੱਤਾ/ پتا / pattā | [pət̪ːäː] | 'leaf' |
| Romanian | Romanian | pas | [pas] | 'step' | See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Russian | плод/plod | [pɫot̪] | 'fruit' | Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian | пиће / piće | [pǐːt͡ɕě] | 'drink' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology |
| Slovak | Slovak | pes | [pɛ̝s] | 'dog' | |
| Slovene | Slovene | pes | [pə̂s̪] | 'dog' | See Slovene phonology |
| Spanish | Spanish | peso | [ˈpe̞so̞] | 'weight' | See Spanish phonology |
| Swahili | Swahili | pombe / پٗونْبٖ | [ˈpoᵐbɛ] | 'beer' | |
| Swedish | Swedish | apa | [ˈɑːˌpa] | 'monkey' | See Swedish phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | పని | [pani] | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form in old Telugu. However aspirated form is almost always pronounced as voiceless labiodental fricative in modern Telugu. |
| Thai | Thai | แป้ง/paeng | [pɛ̂ːŋ] | 'powder' | See Thai phonology |
| Tsez | Tsez | пу/pu | [pʰu] | 'side' | Contrasts with ejective form. |
| Turkish | Turkish | kap | [ˈkʰɑp] | 'pot' | See Turkish phonology |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | павук/pavuk | [pɐˈβ̞uk] | 'spider' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | nhíp | [ɲip˧ˀ˥] | 'tweezers' | See Vietnamese phonology |
| Welsh | Welsh | siop | [ʃɔp] | 'shop' | See Welsh phonology |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | panne | [ˈpɔnə] | 'pan' | |
| Wu Chinese | Shanghainese | 司必靈 / sy-piq-lin | [sz̩˧ pi̯ɪʔ˦ lin˨] | 'spring' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Shanghainese phonology |
| Wu Chinese | Suzhounese | 標緻 / piau¹-tsyu⁵ | [pi̯æ˥ tsz̩ʷ˨˩] | 'pretty' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Suzhounese phonology |
| Wu Chinese | Wenzhounese | 眼淚八汁 / nga⁴-lei⁶-po⁷-tsai⁷ | [ŋa lei̯ po˥˧ tsai̯˩˨] | 'tear' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Wenzhounese phonology |
| Yi | Yi | ꀠ / ba | [pa˧] | 'exchange' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Yue Chinese | Cantonese | 豬頭丙 / zyu¹ tau⁴ bing² | [t͡ʃyː˥ tʰɐu̯˨˩ pɪŋ˧˥] | 'blockhead' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Cantonese phonology |
| Yue Chinese | Taishanese | 白 | [pak̚˧˩] | 'white' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Taishanese phonology |
| Central Alaskan Yup'ik | Central Alaskan Yup'ik | panik | [panik] | 'daughter' | |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | pan | [paŋ] | 'bread' | |