schwa

Pronunciation: /ʃwɑ/

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a neutral middle vowel; occurs in unstressed syllables

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

shwa

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
vowel
Narrower (hyponyms)
murmur vowel

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