vowel

Pronunciation: /ˈvaʊ.əl/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a speech sound made with the vocal tract open
  2. noun a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken vowel

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.

In classic literature

Synonyms

vowel sound

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
phone
Narrower (hyponyms)
schwa, stem vowel, ablaut, diphthong
Opposite (antonyms)
consonant

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading

Nice save! Solidify it with review →