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vowel

 [vou-uhl]   Example Sentences Origin

vow·el

   [vou-uhl]
noun
1.
Phonetics.
a.
(in English articulation) a speech sound produced without occluding, diverting, or obstructing the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to consonant).
b.
(in a syllable) the sound of greatest sonority, as i in grill. Compare consonant (def. 1b).
c.
(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
3.
of or pertaining to a vowel.

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Vowel is always a great word to know.
So is click. Does it mean:
a speech sound characterized by audible friction produced by forcing the breath through a constricted passage in the vocal tract
any one of a variety of ingressive, usually implosive, speech sounds produced by suction occlusion and plosive or affricative release
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Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English < Old French vowel < Latin vōcālis vocal

Related forms
vow·el·less, adjective
vow·el·like, adjective
vow·el·y, vow·el·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To vowel
Example Sentences
  • She can't use one kind of trill, sigh, gargle or regional vowel inflection without grasping for another.
  • German rhyming poetry would be much hampered were it always necessary to rhyme an umlauted vowel with another umlauted vowel.
  • Hearing works the same way: a vowel is still a vowel whether it's yelled or whispered.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
vowel (ˈvaʊəl)
 
—n
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
 
[C14: from Old French vouel, from Latin vocālis littera a vowel, from vocālis sonorous, from vox a voice]
 
'vowel-less
 
—adj
 
'vowel-like
 
—adj

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

vowel
c.1308, from O.Fr. vouel, from L. vocalis, in littera vocalis, lit. "vocal letter," from vox (gen. vocis) "voice" (see voice). Vowel shift in ref. to the pronunciation change between M.E. and Mod.Eng. is attested from 1909. The Hawaiian word hooiaioia, meaning "certified,"
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has the most consecutive vowels of any word in current human speech; the English record-holder is queueing.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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