Vowel

//ˈvaʊ.əl// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable.

    "In Welsh, the w usually represents a vowel."

  2. 2
    a speech sound made with the vocal tract open wordnet
  3. 3
    A letter or diacritic representing the sound of a vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, w (rarely), y (sometimes).

    "Facetiously is spelled with all six vowels in alphabetical order."

  4. 4
    a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken vowel wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic).

    "However it should be vowelled – perhaps ‘Almaqah’ – his name seems to be composed of ‘Il’, the general name of the paramount Semitic deity […], plus another element that is possibly from the Sabaic verb wqh, ‘to command’ […]."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

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