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schwa

schwa
S s

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • UK Pronunciation
    • UK IPA
    • [shwah]
    • /ʃwɑ/
    • /ʃwɑː/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [shwah]
    • /ʃwɑ/

Definitions of schwa word

  • noun schwa the mid-central, neutral vowel sound typically occurring in unstressed syllables in English, however spelled, as the sound of a in alone and sofa, e in system, i in easily, o in gallop, u in circus. 1
  • noun schwa the phonetic symbol ə, used to represent this sound. 1
  • variable noun schwa In the study of language, schwa is the name of the neutral vowel sound represented by the symbol ə in this dictionary. 0
  • noun schwa a central vowel represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by (ə ). The sound occurs in unstressed syllables in English, as in around, mother, and sofa 0
  • noun schwa the symbol (ə ) used to represent this sound 0
  • noun schwa the neutral mid-central vowel sound of most unstressed syllables in English: the sound represented by a in ago, e in agent, i in sanity, etc. 0

Information block about the term

Origin of schwa

First appearance:

before 1890
One of the 20% newest English words
1890-95; < German < Hebrew shəwā, name of a diacritic marking schwa or no vowel

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Schwa

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

schwa popularity

A common word. It’s meaning is known to most children of preschool age. About 90% of English native speakers know the meaning and use the word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

schwa usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

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See also

Matching words

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