English Explanatory Dictionary

schwa

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.
  2. The name of the Latin script letter Ə/ə.
verb
  1. To be reduced to schwa.
noun
  1. Alternative form of shva.

Pronunciation

shwä /ʃwɑ/ en-us-schwa.ogg /ʃwə/ /ʃwʌ/

Word forms

schwa schwas shwa schwə schwaing schwaed

Etymology

Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.

Synonyms

natural vowel neutral vowel

Derived words

a-schwa ⟨ɐ⟩ e-schwa ⟨ə⟩ schwa deletion schwa indogermanicum schwaless schwa primum schwar ⟨ɚ⟩ ⟨ɝ⟩ schwi ⟨ᵻ⟩ ⟨ɨ⟩ schwu ⟨ᵿ⟩ ⟨ɵ⟩
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