Reflecting this loss of contrast, Wells uses schwi (the so-called ‘happy-vowel’) and schwu (weak-u), replacing [ɪ] and [ʊ] and giving [ˈhæpiə] and [ˈdʒæɡuə].
Source: wiktionary
Schwu
//ʃwuː//
Synonyms for "schwu"
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Sample sentences
2 total sentences available.
OED’s base vowel set for British English also includes [...] the barred-/ɪ/ and barred-/ʊ/ symbols (sometimes called ‘schwi’ and ‘schwu’), but these are not separate ‘phonemes’.
Source: wiktionary
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.