vowel

Pronunciation

• enPR: vouʹəl, IPA ^(key): /ˈvaʊ.əl/
• (US) enPR: voul, IPA ^(key): /vaʊ.l̩/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

Singular vowel

Plural vowels

1. A vowel is one of the letters a, e, i, o and u. All the other letters are consonants. Sometimes y is also considered to be a vowel.
2. (linguistics) A vowel is a sound in the middle of a syllable. It is louder and longer than consonant sounds.

   English has more than 15 vowel sounds, but only five vowel letters!

   Your mouth is more open when you say a vowel than when you say a consonant.

Related words

• consonant