semivowel

semivowel

English

Etymology

semi- +‎ vowel

Noun

Examples (sound, English)
/j/ in yes /w/ in west

semivowel (plural semivowels)

1. (phonetics) A sound in speech which has some qualities of a consonant and some qualities of a vowel.

   Synonyms: glide, semiconsonant

2. A letter which represents a semivowel sound, such as w or y in English.

Translations

sound in speech

Arabic: أَشْبَاهُ العِلَلِ‎ (ʾašbāhu l-ʿilali) Armenian: կիսաձայն (hy) (kisajayn) Breton: damvogalenn (br), damgensonenn (br) Chinese: Mandarin: 半元音 (zh) (bànyuányīn), 半母音 (zh) (bànmǔyīn) Czech: polosamohláska f Danish: halvvokal Dutch: halfvocaal (nl) m, halfklinker (nl) m Esperanto: duonvokalo Finnish: puolivokaali (fi) French: semi-voyelle (fr) f, semi-consonne (fr) f German: Halbvokal (de), Semivokal Greek: ημίφωνο (el) n (imífono) Ancient: ἡμίφωνον n (hēmíphōnon) Hebrew: חצי־תנועה‎ f (khatsí-tnuá) Hungarian: félhangzó Italian: semivocale f, semiconsonante f Japanese: 半母音 (はんぼいん, hanboin) Korean: 반모음 (ko) (banmo'eum) Latin: semivocalis Macedonian: полусамо́гласка f (polusamóglaska) Norwegian Nynorsk: halvvokal Polish: spółgłoska półotwarta f Portuguese: semivogal (pt) f Romanian: semivocală (ro) Russian: полугла́сный (ru) m (poluglásnyj) Spanish: semivocal f, semiconsonante (es), vocoide (es) m Swedish: halvvokal Tagalog: malapatinig Vietnamese: bán nguyên âm Welsh: lled-lafariad f West Frisian: healfokaal m

See also

• consonant

Further reading

• semivowel on Wikipedia.Wikipedia