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Word entry · 5 letters

schwa

Best crossword clue

"Unstressed vowel sound"

5 letters · collected on this word page

5 lettersPronunciation /ʃwɑ/Part of speech nounSorted achswStarts with SEnds with A1 clues
1S2C3H4W5A

Definitions

  1. a neutral middle vowel; occurs in unstressed syllables

Word origin

Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.

Used in a sentence

  • The participle has also, owing to the accent, the lightest possible forms; but here there was no reduplication, and so in class I. the "schwa" took the form e before single mutes or fricatives, and elsewhere o.
  • However, word-final unstressed schwa is deleted even by the speakers from South Albania, though to different degrees and dependant on the speech style[…]

Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0

Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues

01Unstressed vowel sound5 letters

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