Open-mid front rounded vowel

Open-mid front rounded vowel
œ
Image
IPA number	311
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	œ
Unicode (hex)	U+0153
X-SAMPA	9
Kirshenbaum	W
Sound

The open-mid front rounded vowel, or low-mid front rounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨œ⟩. The symbol œ is a lowercase ligature of the letters o and e. Note that ⟨ɶ⟩, a small caps version of the Œ ligature, is used for a distinct vowel sound: the open front rounded vowel.

The IPA prefers terms "close" and "open" for vowels, and the name of the article follows this. However, a large number of linguists, perhaps a majority, prefer the terms "high" and "low", and these are the only terms found in introductory textbooks on phonetics such as those by Peter Ladefoged.

Features

IPA vowel chart
Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ ɐ •aɶ •ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open
Paired vowels are: unrounded • rounded
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• Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low 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 compressed, which means that the margins of the lips are tense and drawn together in such a way that the inner surfaces are not exposed.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Azeri		öküz	[œˈcyz]	'ox'
Chinese	Cantonese	靴/hoe1	[hœː˥]	'boots'	See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	月/yuè	[ɥœ˥˩]	'moon'	See Mandarin phonology
	Wu	碗	[ɰœ˩˧]	'bowl'
Danish		høne	[hœːnə]	'hen'	See Danish phonology
Dutch	Southern	uit	[œːt]	'out'	Some dialects, corresponds to [œy] in standard Dutch. See Dutch phonology
	Haags				Corresponds to [œy] in standard Dutch.
Faroese		løgdu	[lœdːʊ]	'laid' (pl.)
French		jeune	[ʒœn]	'young'	See French phonology
German		Hölle	[ˈhœlə]	'hell'	See German phonology
Lori		shö	[ʃœ]	'night'
Icelandic		þö	[θœ]	'however'
North Frisian		blömk	[blœmk]	'flower'
Norwegian		øl	[œl]	'beer'	See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Auvergnat	puei	[ˈpœj]	'then'	Some dialects, especially the northern ones
	Limousin
Swedish		nött	[nœtː]	'worn' (past part. s.)	See Swedish phonology
West Frisian		put	[pœt]	'well'
Western Lombard		fioeu	[fjœː]	'son'	Old Milanese; now an allophone of /ø/

Bibliography

• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76