Transcription
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
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- [shwah]
- /ʃwɑ/
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- US Pronunciation
- US IPA
-
- [shwah]
- /ʃwɑ/
Definitions of shwa word
- noun shwa 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 shwa the phonetic symbol ə, used to represent this sound. 1
Information block about the term
Origin of shwa
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 Shwa
noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
shwa popularity
A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 68% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
According to our data about 57% of words is more used. This is a rare but used term. It occurs in the pages of specialized literature and in the speech of educated people.
shwa usage trend in Literature
This diagram is provided by Google Ngram ViewerTop questions with shwa
- what is a shwa?