The open-mid front unrounded vowel, or low-mid front unrounded vowel,[1] is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is the Latin epsilon, a Latinized variant of the Greek lowercase epsilon, ⟨ɛ⟩.
Open-mid front unrounded vowel | |||
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ɛ | |||
IPA Number | 303 | ||
Audio sample | |||
source · help | |||
Encoding | |||
Entity (decimal) | ɛ | ||
Unicode (hex) | U+025B | ||
X-SAMPA | E | ||
Braille | |||
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IPA: Vowels | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend: unrounded • rounded |
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Akan (Twi) | ɛyɛ | [ɛjɛ] | 'it is good/fine' | See Akan phonology | |
Arabic | See Imāla | ||||
Armenian | Eastern[2] | էջ/ēj | [ɛd͡ʒ] | 'page' | |
Bavarian | Amstetten dialect[3] | [example needed] | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨æ⟩. | ||
Bengali[4] | এক/ek | [ɛk] | 'one' | Alternative transcription and phonetic realisation of [æ]. See Bengali phonology | |
Breton[5] | gwenn | [ˈɡwɛnː] | 'white' | ||
Bulgarian[6] | пет/pet | [pɛt̪] | 'five' | See Bulgarian phonology | |
Catalan[7] | set | [ˈsɛt] | 'seven' | See Catalan phonology | |
Chinese | Mandarin[8] | 天 / tiān | 'sky' | Height varies between mid and open depending on the speaker. See Standard Chinese phonology | |
Chuvash | ҫепĕç | ['ɕɛp̬ɘɕ] | 'gentle, tender' | ||
Czech[9][10] | led | [lɛt] | 'ice' | In Bohemian Czech, this vowel varies between open-mid front [ɛ], open-mid near-front [ɛ̠] and mid near-front [ɛ̝̈].[9] See Czech phonology | |
Danish | Standard[11][12] | frisk | [ˈfʁɛsk] | 'fresh' | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨æ⟩. See Danish phonology |
Dutch | Standard[13] | bed | 'bed' | See Dutch phonology | |
The Hague[14] | jij | 'you' | Corresponds to [ɛi] in standard Dutch. | ||
English | General American[15] | bed | 'bed' | ||
Northern England[16] | May be somewhat lowered.[16] | ||||
Received Pronunciation[17][18] | Older RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel [e̞]. See English phonology | ||||
Younger General Australian speakers | Realization of /e/ due to an ongoing short-front vowel chain shift. See Australian English phonology | ||||
Scottish[19] | |||||
Cockney[20] | fat | [fɛt] | 'fat' | ||
Singaporean[21] | |||||
New Zealand[22] | See New Zealand English phonology | ||||
Broad Australian | Realization of /æ/. General Australian speakers realize this vowel as [æ] or [a]. See Australian English phonology | ||||
Some Broad South African speakers[23] |
Other speakers realize this vowel as [æ] or [a]. See South African English phonology | ||||
Belfast[24] | days | [dɛːz] | 'days' | Pronounced [iə] in closed syllables; corresponds to [eɪ] in RP. | |
Zulu[25] | mate | [mɛt] | 'mate' | Speakers exhibit a met-mate merger. | |
Faroese[26] | frekt | [fɹɛʰkt] | 'greedy' | See Faroese phonology | |
French[27][28] | bête | 'beast' | See French phonology | ||
Galician | ferro | [ˈfɛro̝] | 'iron' | See Galician phonology | |
Georgian[29] | გედი/gedi | [ɡɛdi] | 'swan' | ||
German | Standard[30][31] | Bett | 'bed' | Also described as mid [ɛ̝].[32] See Standard German phonology | |
Franconian accent[33] | oder | [ˈoːdɛ] | 'or' | Used instead of [ɐ].[33] See Standard German phonology | |
Coastal Northern accents[33] | |||||
Swabian accent[34] | fett | [fɛt] | 'fat' | Contrasts with the close-mid [e].[34] See Standard German phonology | |
Western Swiss accents[35] | See | [z̥ɛː] | 'lake' | Close-mid [eː] in other accents; contrasts with the near-open [æː].[36] See Standard German phonology | |
Hindustani | Hindi | रहना | [ˈɾɛɦna] | 'to stay' | See Hindustani phonology |
Urdu | رہنا | ||||
Hungarian | lesz | [ˈlɛs] | 'will be' | Allophone of [æ]. | |
Italian[37] | bene | 'good' | See Italian phonology | ||
Kaingang[38] | mbre | [ˈᵐbɾɛ] | 'with' | ||
Korean | 매미 / maemi | [mɛːmi] | 'cicada' | Merged with /e/ for many speakers. See Korean phonology | |
Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | hevde | [hɛvdɛ] | 'seventeen' | See Kurdish phonology |
Sorani (Central) | ههڤده/hevde | [hɛvdæ] | |||
Pehlewî (Southern) | [hɛvdæ] | ||||
Limburgish[39][40][41] | crème | [kʀ̝ɛːm] | 'cream' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |
Lithuanian | mesti | [mɛs̪t̪ɪ] | 'throw' | See Lithuanian phonology | |
Lower Sorbian[42] | serp | [s̪ɛrp] | 'sickle' | ||
Luxembourgish[43] | Stär | [ʃtɛːɐ̯] | 'star' | Allophone of /eː/ before /ʀ/.[43] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
Macedonian[44][45] | Standard | мед/med | [ˈmɛd̪] | 'honey' | See Macedonian language § Vowels |
Malay | Standard | paling | [pälɛŋ] | 'to play' | Possible realisation of /i/ and /e/ in closed final syllables. See Malay phonology |
Negeri Sembilan | cepat | [cɔpɛɁ] | 'quick' | See Negeri Sembilan Malay | |
Kelatan-Pattani | ayam | [äjɛː] | 'chicken' | See Kelatan-Pattani | |
Terengganu | biasa | [bɛsə] | 'normal' | See Terengganu Malay | |
Perak | mata | [matɛ] | 'eye' | See Perak Malay | |
Norman | Jersey | affaûrder | [afɔrˈdɛ] | 'to afford' | |
Norwegian | Sognamål[46] | pest | [pʰɛst] | 'plague' | See Norwegian phonology |
Occitan | grèga | [ˈɣɾɛɣɔ] | 'Greek' | See Occitan phonology | |
Polish[47] | ten | 'this one' (nom. m.) | See Polish phonology | ||
Portuguese | Most dialects[48][49] | pé | [ˈpɛ] | 'foot' | Stressed vowel might be lower [æ]. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨e⟩ allophones, such as [e̞ e ɪ i ɨ], varies according to dialect. |
Some speakers[50] | tempo | [ˈt̪ɛ̃mpu] | 'time' | Timbre differences for nasalized vowels are mainly kept in European Portuguese. See Portuguese phonology | |
Romanian | Transylvanian dialects[51] | vede | [ˈvɛɟe] | '(he) sees' | Corresponds to mid [e̞] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
Russian[52] | это/eto | 'this' | See Russian phonology | ||
Shiwiar[53] | [example needed] | Allophone of /a/. | |||
Slovene | met | [mɛ́t] | 'throw' (n.) | See Slovene phonology | |
Spanish | Eastern Andalusian[54] | las madres | [læ̞ː ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛː] | 'the mothers' | Corresponds to [e̞] in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology |
Murcian[54] | |||||
Swahili | shule | [ʃulɛ] | 'school' | ||
Swedish | Central Standard[55] | ät | [ɛ̠ːt̪] | 'eat' (imp.) | Somewhat retracted.[55] See Swedish phonology |
Tagalog | peke | [ˈpɛxɛʔ] | 'fake' | See Tagalog phonology | |
Telugu | చేప | [tʃɛːa] | 'Fish' | ||
మేక | [mɛːka] | 'Goat' | |||
Thai | แตร / trae | [trɛː˧] | 'horn (instrument)' | ||
Turkish[56][57] | ülke | [y̠l̠ˈcɛ] | 'country' | Allophone of /e/ described variously as "word-final"[56] and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase".[57] See Turkish phonology | |
Ukrainian[58] | день/den' | [dɛnʲ] | 'day' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
Upper Sorbian[42][59] | čelo | [ˈt͡ʃɛlɔ] | 'calf' | ||
Welsh | nesaf | [nɛsav] | 'next' | See Welsh phonology | |
West Frisian[60] | beppe | [ˈbɛpə] | 'grandma' | See West Frisian phonology | |
Yoruba[61] | ẹsẹ̀ | [ɛ̄sɛ] | 'leg' |
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