vowel

B1 Topic:Communication

US /ˈvaʊ.əl/ See IPA manual

Freq #32033

Meanings

1

noun
A speech sound made with the mouth open and the air flowing freely, such as the sounds of a, e, i, o, and u.

The vowel in 'cat' is short.
2

noun
A letter that stands for such a sound; in English these are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.

The word 'queue' has more vowels than consonants.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms vowels

Derived forms disemvowelsemi-vowelsemivowelvowelisationvowelisevowelizationvowelizevowellessvowelling

Related forms back central closeclose-midconsonant frontintervocalicliquid midnear-closenear-openopen

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

vowel shift
a systematic change in how one or more vowel sounds are pronounced

Noun + noun

Simplified etymology

Vowel entered English in the Middle English period through Old French vouel. That word came from Latin vocalis littera, literally “vocal letter,” from the family of Latin vox, “voice.”

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.

*wekʷ- Proto-Indo-European vowel Middle English vouel Old French vōcālis Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Communication Language & Linguistics

External links

# vowel

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈvaʊ.əl/
**Frequency rank:** 32033

## Meanings
1. A speech sound made with the mouth open and the air flowing freely, such as the sounds of a, e, i, o, and u.
2. A letter that stands for such a sound; in English these are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.

## Examples
- The vowel in 'cat' is short.
- The word 'queue' has more vowels than consonants.

## Derived Forms
- disemvowel
- semi-vowel
- semivowel
- vowelisation
- vowelise
- vowelization
- vowelize
- vowelless
- vowelling

## Related Forms
- back
- central
- close
- close-mid
- consonant
- front
- intervocalic
- liquid
- mid
- near-close
- near-open
- open

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *wekʷ-
- Root: vowel
- Root: vouel
- Root: vōcālis

## 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.

## AI Etymology
Vowel is 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. Important historical forms include Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ-, Middle English vowel, Old French vouel, and Latin vōcālis. In present-day use, it can mean a speech sound made with the mouth open and the air flowing freely, such as the sounds of a, e, i, o, and u, or a letter that stands for such a sound; in English these are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y.

## Topics
- Communication
- Language & Linguistics

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