IPA – number 303
IPA – text ɛ
IPA – image
Entity ɛ
X-SAMPA E
Kirshenbaum E
Sound sample (help·info)

The open-mid front unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is <ɛ>, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is E.

Features

• Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Albanian tre [tɾɛ] 'three'
Chinese Cantonese 蛇/se4 [sɛː˩] 'snake' See Standard Cantonese
Mandarin 斜/xie2 [ɕjɛ] 'tilted' See Standard Mandarin
Catalan[1] sec [sɛk] 'dry' See Catalan phonology
Czech Amerika [amɛrɪka] 'America' See Czech phonology
Dutch bed [bɛt] 'bed' See Dutch phonology
English GA bed [bɛd] 'bed' See English phonology
New Zealand fat [fɛ̝t] 'fat'
Faroese elska [ɛlska] 'love'
French[2] bête [bɛt] 'animal' See French phonology
Georgian[3] გედი [gɛdi] 'swan'
German Bett [bɛt] 'bed' See German phonology
Hungarian nem [nɛm] 'no' See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic ég [jɛɣ] 'I'
Italian[4] bene [ˈbɛːne] 'good' See Italian phonology
Kabardian Iэ [ʔɛ] 'to tell'
Ngwe Njoagwi dialect [lɛ̀rɛ́] 'eye'
Norwegian nett [nɛt] 'net' See Norwegian phonology
Polish[5] ten [tɛn] (help·info) 'this one' See Polish phonology
Portuguese[6] café [kɐˈfɛ] 'coffee' See Portuguese phonology
Russian[7] это [ˈɛtə] 'this' See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic aig [ɛk] 'at'
Serbian mleko/млеко [mlɛko] 'milk'
Seri me [mɛ] 'you'
Swedish ät [ɛːt] 'eat' (imperative) See Swedish phonology
Vietnamese e [ɛ] 'to fear' See Vietnamese phonology
Yoruba ẹsẹ̀ [ɛ̄sɛ] 'leg/foot'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography