schwa

See also: Schwa

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא \ שְׁוָא‎ (sh'va ,š’vā, “nought”).

Pronunciation
  • enPR: shwä, IPA(key): /ʃwɑ/
    • Audio (US)(file)
  • (humourous, unstressed) IPA(key): /ʃwə/

Noun

schwa (plural schwas)

  1. (phonetics) An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.
    Synonyms: natural vowel, neutral vowel
    Coordinate terms: a-schwa, schwi
    Hyponym: schwar
    • 1882, B. W. Wells, “The Ablaut in English”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, page 67:
      The participle has also, owing to the accent, the lightest possible forms; but here there was no reduplication, and so in class I. the "schwa" took the form e before single mutes or fricatives, and elsewhere o.
  2. The character ə.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Noun

schwa m (plural schwas)

  1. (phonetics) schwa (mid-central vowel)
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