Definition of vowel

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Vowel (n.) A vocal, or sometimes a whispered, sound modified by resonance in the oral passage, the peculiar resonance in each case giving to each several vowel its distinctive character or quality as a sound of speech; -- distinguished from a consonant in that the latter, whether made with or without vocality, derives its character in every case from some kind of obstructive action by the mouth organs. Also, a letter or character which represents such a sound. See Guide to Pronunciation, // 5, 1

Lern More About Vowel

Monophthong :: Monophthong (n.) A combination of two written vowels pronounced as one; a digraph.
U :: U () the twenty-first letter of the English alphabet, is a cursive form of the letter V, with which it was formerly used interchangeably, both letters being then used both as vowels and consonants. U and V are now, however, differentiated, U being used only as a vowel or semivowel, and V only as a consonant. The true primary vowel sound of U, in Anglo-Saxon, was the sound which it still retains in most of the languages of Europe, that of long oo, as in tool, and short oo, as in wood, answering t
Triphthong :: Triphthong (n.) A combination of three vowel sounds in a single syllable, forming a simple or compound sound; also, a union of three vowel characters, representing together a single sound; a trigraph; as, eye, -ieu in adieu, -eau in beau, are examples of triphthongs..
Umlauted :: Umlauted (a.) Having the umlaut; as, umlauted vowels..
Point :: Point (n.) To mark (as Hebrew) with vowel points.
Di- :: Di- () A prefix denoting through; also, between, apart, asunder, across. Before a vowel dia-becomes di-; as, diactinic; dielectric, etc..
Tonic :: Tonic (a.) Of or relating to tones or sounds; specifically (Phon.), applied to, or distingshing, a speech sound made with tone unmixed and undimmed by obstruction, such sounds, namely, the vowels and diphthongs, being so called by Dr. James Rush (1833) from their forming the purest and most plastic material of intonation..
Syllable :: Syllable (n.) An elementary sound, or a combination of elementary sounds, uttered together, or with a single effort or impulse of the voice, and constituting a word or a part of a word. In other terms, it is a vowel or a diphtong, either by itself or flanked by one or more consonants, the whole produced by a single impulse or utterance. One of the liquids, l, m, n, may fill the place of a vowel in a syllable. Adjoining syllables in a word or phrase need not to be marked off by a pause, but only
R :: R () R, the eighteenth letter of the English alphabet, is a vocal consonant. It is sometimes called a semivowel, and a liquid. See Guide to Pronunciation, // 178, 179, and 250-254..
Sonorous :: Sonorous (a.) Yielding sound; characterized by sound; vocal; sonant; as, the vowels are sonorous..
Th :: Th () In Old English, the article the, when the following word began with a vowel, was often written with elision as if a part of the word. Thus in Chaucer, the forms thabsence, tharray, thegle, thend, thingot, etc., are found for the absence, the array, the eagle, the end, etc..
Accent :: Accent (n.) A mark or character used in writing, and serving to regulate the pronunciation; esp.: (a) a mark to indicate the nature and place of the spoken accent; (b) a mark to indicate the quality of sound of the vowel marked; as, the French accents..
Vocal :: Vocal (n.) A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic; -- distinguished from a subvocal, and a nonvocal..
Glide :: Glide (n.) A transitional sound in speech which is produced by the changing of the mouth organs from one definite position to another, and with gradual change in the most frequent cases; as in passing from the begining to the end of a regular diphthong, or from vowel to consonant or consonant to vowel in a syllable, or from one component to the other of a double or diphthongal consonant (see Guide to Pronunciation, // 19, 161, 162). Also (by Bell and others), the vanish (or brief final element)
Long :: Long (n.) A long sound, syllable, or vowel..
Aphesis :: Aphesis (n.) The loss of a short unaccented vowel at the beginning of a word; -- the result of a phonetic process; as, squire for esquire..
Semivowel :: Semivowel (n.) The sign or letter representing such a sound.
Ecthlipsis :: Ecthlipsis (n.) The elision of a final m, with the preceding vowel, before a word beginning with a vowel..
Contraction :: Contraction (n.) The shortening of a word, or of two words, by the omission of a letter or letters, or by reducing two or more vowels or syllables to one; as, ne'er for never; can't for can not; don't for do not; it's for it is..
Triphthongal :: Triphthongal (a.) Of or pertaining to a triphthong; consisting of three vowel sounds pronounced together in a single syllable.
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