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When you stick your tongue outside of your mouth and gently blow, it makes a common sound to indicate "whatever!" or "I don't like your answer/response" or "Yes, you are smarter than I am."

What is the name of this sound and how do you spell the sound?

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    :P thbbpt. <filler>
    – SrJoven
    Commented Jan 28, 2015 at 22:28
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    See blowing a raspberry on Wikipedia, which says the sound can be transcribed in IPA as the unvoiced linguolabial trill [r̼̊], and is "commonly spelled" pbbbt on the internet.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Jan 28, 2015 at 22:34
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    Bill the Cat "spells" it "Thbbft" (and possibly other ways).
    – Dennis Williamson
    Commented Jan 28, 2015 at 22:52
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    @DanBron Interesting. When I see pbbbt, my immediate reaction is to interpret it as representing [ʙ̯ː] (an unvoiced bilabial trill or what is also often spelt as pfffft when indicating indifference, or prrrr when indicating a horse neighing).
    – Janus Bahs Jacquet
    Commented Jan 28, 2015 at 23:10
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    "Yes, a raspberry is a 'wet' sound made with by blowing air through wet lips 'blocked' by the tongue. Whereas, a 'pffffttt' is made by forcing air through a (dry) lower lip and front teeth." – 5arx What's the verb for making that “pffft” sound?
    – Mazura
    Commented Jun 6, 2016 at 22:00

3 Answers 3

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I wonder what the linguists will make of this question.

It sounds as though you are describing what is colloquially known as 'Blowing a Rasberry'.

As to how you would represent it in writing, I'm a bit flummoxed. Experiment with the following (all as long or short as you wish);

Brthrthrthrthrth

Pthwrzrthwrzzz.....

Much better than the internet Pbbt. You could have started something here.

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I believe the word you are looking for is "pfft", defined as:

An expression of a lack of interest in another persons comment

Blowing a raspberry is something different, and noticeably more insulting.

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    The OP specifically mentioned poking your tongue out, which makes me think this is a raspberry, and not a 'pfft'.
    – dwjohnston
    Commented Apr 8, 2016 at 0:37
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Blowing air between loosely closed lips like ppbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb is called Pursed, or Pursed lips.

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  • Don't you make pursed lips without a sound, though?
    – livresque
    Commented Mar 8, 2021 at 1:28
  • Pursed lips don't usually involve the tongue sticking out, which is what the OP describes.
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 5:28

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