English Explanatory Dictionary

vowel

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable.
  2. A letter or diacritic representing the sound of a vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y (sometimes), and w (rarely).
verb
  1. To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic).

Pronunciation

vouʹəl /ˈvaʊ.əl/ voul /vaʊl/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-vowel.wav en-us-vowel.ogg

Word forms

vowel vowels voweling vowelling voweled vowelled

Etymology

From Middle English vowel, from Old French vouel, a variant of voyeul (whence French voyelle), from Latin vōcālis (“voiced”), itself a semantic loan of Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen). Doublet of vocal and vocalis.

Synonyms

vowelize vocalize

Antonyms

consonant

Related words

intervocalic postvocalic prevocalic vocalic vocalization Types of vowels: front central back rounded unrounded close near-close close-mid mid open-mid near-open open Other categories of sounds: consonant liquid

Derived words

back vowel cardinal vowel dark vowel disemvowel echo vowel front vowel full vowel gliding vowel half-long vowel happy vowel inherent vowel lax vowel linking vowel long vowel long-vowel mark nasal vowel natural vowel neutral vowel oral vowel overlong vowel prop vowel R-coloured vowel R-colored vowel reduced vowel rhotacized vowel rounded vowel semi-vowel semivowel short vowel tense vowel thematic vowel unrounded vowel vowel harmony vowelization vowelisation vowelize vowelise vowel killer vowelless vowelling vowel lowering vowel mutation vowel point vowel pointing vowel quantity vowel reduction vowel rhyme vowel sign weak vowel merger
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