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schwa - 3 dictionary results

schwa

[shwah]
–noun Phonetics.
1. 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.
2. the phonetic symbol ə, used to represent this sound.
Also, shwa.


Origin:
1890–95; < G < Heb shəwā, name of a diacritic marking schwa or no vowel
schwa   (shwä)   
n.  
  1. A mid-central neutral vowel, typically occurring in unstressed syllables, as the final vowel of English sofa.
  2. The symbol (ə) used to represent an unstressed neutral vowel and, in some systems of phonetic transcription, a stressed mid-central vowel, as in but.

[German, from Hebrew šəwā', probably from Syriac (nuqzē) šwayyā, even (points), pl. passive participle of šwā, to be even; see šwy in Semitic roots.]

schwa 
1895, from Ger. Schwa, ult. from Heb. shewa "a neutral vowel quality," lit. "emptiness."
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