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Meaning of "semivowel" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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PRONUNCIATION OF SEMIVOWEL

semivowel  [ˈsɛmɪˌvaʊəl] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SEMIVOWEL

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Semivowel is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SEMIVOWEL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Semivowel

In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel is a sound, such as English /w/ or /j/, that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary rather than as the nucleus of a syllable.

Definition of semivowel in the English dictionary

The definition of semivowel in the dictionary is a vowel-like sound that acts like a consonant, in that it serves the same function in a syllable carrying the same amount of prominence as a consonant relative to a true vowel, the nucleus of the syllable. In English and many other languages the chief semivowels are in well and, represented as y, in yell. Other definition of semivowel is a frictionless continuant classified as one of the liquids; or.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH SEMIVOWEL


avowal
əˈvaʊəl
bowel
ˈbaʊəl
cowal
ˈkaʊəl
disavowal
ˌdɪsəˈvaʊəl
disbowel
dɪsˈbaʊəl
disembowel
ˌdɪsɪmˈbaʊəl
disemvowel
ˌdɪsɪmˈvaʊəl
dishtowel
ˈdɪʃˌtaʊəl
dowel
ˈdaʊəl
Dowell
ˈdaʊəl
embowel
ɪmˈbaʊəl
Powell
ˈpaʊəl
rowel
ˈraʊəl
towel
ˈtaʊəl
trowel
ˈtraʊəl
vowel
ˈvaʊəl

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SEMIVOWEL

semitonal
semitonally
semitone
semitonic
semitonically
semitrailer
semitranslucent
semitransparent
semitropic
semitropical
semitropics
semitruck
semiurban
semivitreous
semivocal
semivocalic
semiweekly
semiwild
semiworks
semiyearly

WORDS THAT END LIKE SEMIVOWEL

back vowel
bath towel
beach towel
dish towel
front vowel
hand towel
jack towel
low vowel
Nowel
open vowel
oral vowel
paper towel
pure vowel
roller towel
sanitary towel
tea towel
throw in the towel
Turkish towel

Synonyms and antonyms of semivowel in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «semivowel» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SEMIVOWEL

Find out the translation of semivowel to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of semivowel from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «semivowel» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

半元音
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

semivowel
570 millions of speakers

English

semivowel
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

semivowel
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

semivowel
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

полугласный
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

semivogal
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

semivowel
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

semi-voyelle
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Semivokal
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Halbvokal
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

半母音
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

반모음
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Semivokal
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

bán mâu âm
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

semivowel
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

सेविवॉवेल
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

semivowel
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

semivicale
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

półsamogłoska
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

півголосних
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

semivocală
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ημίφωνο, ημιφωνήεν
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

halfvokaal
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

semivowel
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

semivowel
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of semivowel

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SEMIVOWEL»

The term «semivowel» is normally little used and occupies the 147.131 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
31
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «semivowel» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of semivowel
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «semivowel».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SEMIVOWEL» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «semivowel» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «semivowel» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about semivowel

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SEMIVOWEL»

Discover the use of semivowel in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to semivowel and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Sievers' Law and the History of Semivowel Syllabicity in ...
by no means perfect even among the examples where the semivowel immediately precedes the last syllable of the word. We find exceptions in both directions. We find non-syllabic semivowels after heavy sequences, e.g. paidvá- ' Pedu's ...
P. J. Barber, Peter Jeffrey Barber, 2013
2
Elements of the English Language, Or Analytical Orthography ...
A COMPENDIOUS TABLE EXHIBIT: NO THE PROPERTIES OF ALL THE CONSONANTS AT ONE VIEW. b is a consonant. mute, labial, subvocal. d is a consonant, mute, lingual, subvocal. f .... is a consonant, semivowel, labial, aspirate. g hard ...
Albert D. Wright, 1870
3
Comparative Semitic Linguistics: A Manual
Semivowel Symbols Front unrounded Back rounded High y w Over time, in some languages the qualitative diˆerences have come to be at least as important in the system as the quantitative, and length may cease to be contrastive as such.
Patrick R. Bennett, 1998
4
Universals of Human Language: Phonology
three sub-sections, the processes are separated from one another by differences existing in the effective environments, such as semivowel vs. vowel (2.1.1), high vowel vs. front vowel (2.1.2), and unstressed vowel vs. stressed vowel (2.1. 3).
Joseph Harold Greenberg, Charles Albert Ferguson, Edith A. Moravcsik, 1978
5
Vowels: Vowel, Diphthong, Schwa, Semivowel, Cardinal Vowel, ...
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.
Source Wikipedia, LLC Books, 2010
6
Studies in the Grammatical Tradition in Tibet
In all these -y- is a phoneme of palatalization, and is to be distinguished from the semivowel y; there are contrasts between the sequence g + the phoneme of palatalization -y- vs. the sequence g + the semivowel y: with the semivowel, gyah  ...
Roy Andrew Miller, 1976
7
Articles on Vowels, Including: Cardinal Vowel, Vowel, ...
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.
Hephaestus Books, 2011
8
Cross-language Transfer of Sub-syllabic Units in the ...
Thus, the placement of the semivowel, which is closely attached to vowel ( Spencer, 1996) may be important to distinguish the sub-syllabic structure between Korean and English. Accordingly, this literature review examines the linguistic role of ...
Seunghyun Baek, 2007
9
Phonology: Critical Concepts in Linguistics
The developments in (7a. d) would be considered a straightforward instance of compensatory lengthening, but (7b,c) show that the process of interest involves not simply loss of the nasal, but its conversion to a semivowel: /VnS/ > /ViS/.
Charles W. Kreidler, 2001
10
The Origins and Development of the English Language
... made, the palatal semivowel [y] being like the vowels of eat or it, and the velar semivowel [w] like the vowels of oodles or oomph. But in words they function like consonants. Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. VOWELS ...
John Algeo, 2009

2 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SEMIVOWEL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term semivowel is used in the context of the following news items.
1
One more thought on "my plezh"
... "colonialization" (nice image, that -- and pretty accurate, too) that takes place between a consonant and a following high front vowel [i] or palatal semivowel [j]. «The Economist, Feb 12»
2
BYU, YMCA both loved as 'the Y'
... Christian Association announced recently that it will be calling itself just "the Y," thus joining an informal club of institutions that rally around the semivowel. «Deseret News, Jul 10»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Semivowel [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/semivowel>. Apr 2024 ».
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