vowel

Plural: vowels

Noun

A speech sound produced with an open vocal tract.
a speech sound made with the vocal tract open
a letter of the alphabet standing for a spoken vowel
A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable.
A letter representing the sound of a vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, w (sometimes), y (sometimes) .

Verb

To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic).

Examples

A balanced rack of vowels and consonants is every Scrabble player’s dream.
Facetiously is spelled with all six vowels in alphabetical order.
In Welsh, the w usually represents a vowel.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English vouel, from Old French vouel, a variant of voyeul (whence French voyelle), from Latin vōcālis (“voiced”), itself a semantic loan of Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen). Doublet of vocal and vocalis.

Synonyms

vowel sound, vocalize, vowelize

Antonyms

consonant

Scrabble Score: 11

vowel: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
vowel: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
vowel: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 13

vowel: valid Words With Friends Word