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schwa

[shwah]

Origin

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noun Phonetics.

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.

the phonetic symbol ə, used to represent this sound.

Also, shwa.

Origin:
1890–95; < German < Hebrew shəwā, name of a diacritic marking schwa or no vowel

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To schwa

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Schwa is always a great word to know.

So is voiceless. Does it mean:

a speech sound that by itself makes a syllable or subordinates to itself the other sounds in the syllable

uttered without phonation

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Collins

World English Dictionary

schwa or shwa (ʃwɑː)

—n
1.	a central vowel represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet by (). The sound occurs in unstressed syllables in English, as in around, mother, and sofa
2.	the symbol () used to represent this sound

[C19: via German from Hebrew shewā, a diacritic indicating lack of a vowel sound]

shwa or shwa

—n

[C19: via German from Hebrew shewā, a diacritic indicating lack of a vowel sound]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

schwa

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

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