vowel

American  

[vou-uhl] / ˈvaʊ əl /

noun

1. Phonetics.

   1. (in English articulation) a speech sound produced without occluding, diverting, or obstructing the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to consonant).

   2. (in a syllable) the sound of greatest sonority, as i in grill.

   3. (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with consonant, as the (ē) of be (bē), we (wē), and yeast (yēst).

2. a letter representing or usually representing a vowel, as, in English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y.

---

adjective

1. of or relating to a vowel.

vowel British  

/ ˈvaʊəl /

noun

1. phonetics a voiced speech sound whose articulation is characterized by the absence of friction-causing obstruction in the vocal tract, allowing the breath stream free passage. The timbre of a vowel is chiefly determined by the position of the tongue and the lips

2. a letter or character representing a vowel

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• vowel-less
  adjective
• vowel-like
  adjective
• vowely
  adverb
• vowellike
  adjective
• vowelly
  adverb
• vowelless
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of vowel

1275–1325; Middle English < Old French vowel < Latin vōcālis vocal

Explanation

Open your mouth and say “aaaaa.” There! You’ve just said a vowel. A vowel is a letter that represents an open sound. There are six vowels in the English language: a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y. Y is sometimes a vowel, as in the word story although it also sometimes acts as a consonant, as in the word yes. The vocal sounds represented by vowels are open and without friction. The word vowel comes from the Old French voieul, which is based on the Latin phrase littera vocalis, or "vocal letter," from the root word vox, or "voice."

Example Sentences

“Non-rhotic speakers essentially say the ‘r’ sound only when it occurs before a vowel sound, but not when it occurs after a vowel,” Ms. Fridland says.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

Even the word, beginning and ending with similar vowel qualities, evinces monotony.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 10, 2024

Llama 2 70b, which answered correctly 10% of the time, mistook the letter K for a vowel and so answered incorrectly.

From Science Daily • Jun. 5, 2024

Rhoticity is the term for speaking in an accent where an r is pronounced not only before a vowel, but also before a consonant or at the end of words.

From BBC • Dec. 28, 2023

Why, you could go through twenty words without bumping into some of the shyer consonants, but it seemed as if you couldn’t tiptoe past a syllable without waking up a vowel.

From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli

Related Words

• articulate
• choral
• operatic
• verbal