vowel

Meaning

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, w (rarely), y (sometimes).

Verb

To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic).

Synonyms

vowel sound

dedicator

letter

sound

🔉

vocal

Translations

voyelle

Vokal

vocal

vocale

klinker

vogal

Selbstlaut

φωνήεν

vocal

vocaal

vokaal

zelfklinker

vocala

φωνήεντο

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvaʊ.əl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: vouel

Cognate with French: voyelle

In summary

From Middle English vouel, 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.