A palato-alveolar consonant is a postalveolar consonant that is weakly palatised with a domed (bunched-up) tongue.
Palato-alveolar consonants are almost always sibilants. Examples of palato-alveolar consonants are [ʃ], [ʒ] and their corresponding affricates [tʃ], [dʒ].
Note that a consonant being palato-alveolar does not imply a specific type of articulation: it can still be either apical or laminal (see coronal consonant).
Palato-alveolar consonants are not to be confused with alveolo-palatal consonant.