vowel

Meanings

Noun

• A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable.
• A letter representing the sound of vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, and y.

Verb

• To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic).

Related

Similar words

• vowelize
• vocalize

Opposite words

• consonant

Origin

• From Middle English vouel, from Old French vouel, a variant of voyeul (whence French voyelle), from Latin vōcālis ("voiced"), itself a semantic loan of Koine Greek φωνῆεν. vocal.