semivowel

C2+ Topic:Communication

US /ˈsɛmiˌvaʊəl/ UK /ˈsɛmiˌvaʊəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a speech sound such as w or y that functions like both vowel and consonant

In English, the semivowel in 'yes' glides into the following vowel.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a speech sound such as w or... glideapproximant

Opposites

consonant vowel

Word family

Related forms vowelsemiglide

Etymology

From Latin 'semivocalis', a compound of 'semi-' ('half') + 'vocalis' ('vocal, sounding'), from 'vox' ('voice'); a calque carried into English.

semi- Latin vocalis Latin

View etymology graph ->

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# semivowel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɛmiˌvaʊəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɛmiˌvaʊəl/

## Meanings
1. a speech sound such as w or y that functions like both vowel and consonant

## Examples
- In English, the semivowel in 'yes' glides into the following vowel.

## Synonyms
- glide
- approximant

## Antonyms
- consonant
- vowel

## Related Forms
- vowel
- semi
- glide

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: semi-
- Root: vocalis

## Etymology
From Latin 'semivocalis', a compound of 'semi-' ('half') + 'vocalis' ('vocal, sounding'), from 'vox' ('voice'); a calque carried into English.

## AI Etymology
Semivowel comes from Latin 'semivocalis', a compound of 'semi-' ('half') + 'vocalis' ('vocal, sounding'), from 'vox' ('voice'); a calque carried into English. The historical chain includes Latin semi- and Latin vocalis. The quoted older senses, "semivocalis", "semi-", "half", "vocalis", and "vocal, sounding", supply the semantic anchors for semivowel. The formation is best read as compound and borrowed: the word semivowel carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a speech sound such as w or y that functions like both vowel and consonant". Related English forms include vowel, semi, and glide. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Communication

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semivowel

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