Table of vowels

This table lists the vowel letters of the International Phonetic Alphabet.

IPA: Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y	ɨ ʉ	ɯ u
Near-close	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
Close-mid	e ø	ɘ ɵ	ɤ o
Mid	e̞ ø̞	ə	ɤ̞ o̞
Open-mid	ɛ œ	ɜ ɞ	ʌ ɔ
Near-open	æ	ɐ
Open	a ɶ	ä	ɑ ɒ

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Legend: unrounded • rounded

Vowel fact sheet

name	height	backness	roundness	IPA number	IPA text	IPA image	Entity	X-SAMPA	Sound sample
Close front unrounded vowel	close	front	unrounded	301	i		i	i
Close front rounded vowel	close	front	rounded	309	y		y	y
Close central unrounded vowel	close	central	unrounded	317	ɨ		ɨ	1
Close central rounded vowel	close	central	rounded	318	ʉ		ʉ	}
Close back unrounded vowel	close	back	unrounded	316	ɯ		ɯ	M
Close back rounded vowel	close	back	rounded	308	u		u	u
Near-close front unrounded vowel	near-close	front	unrounded	319	ɪ		ɪ	I
Near-close front rounded vowel	near-close	front	rounded	320	ʏ		ʏ	Y
Near-close back rounded vowel	near-close	back	rounded	321	ʊ		ʊ	U
Close-mid front unrounded vowel	close-mid	front	unrounded	302	e		e	e
Close-mid front rounded vowel	close-mid	front	rounded	310	ø		ø	2
Close-mid central unrounded vowel	close-mid	central	unrounded	397	ɘ		ɘ	@\
Close-mid central rounded vowel	close-mid	central	rounded	323	ɵ		ɵ	8
Close-mid back unrounded vowel	close-mid	back	unrounded	315	ɤ		ɤ	7
Close-mid back rounded vowel	close-mid	back	rounded	307	o		o	o
Mid central vowel	mid	central	undefined	322	ə		ə	@
Open-mid front unrounded vowel	open-mid	front	unrounded	303	ɛ		ɛ	E
Open-mid front rounded vowel	open-mid	front	rounded	311	œ		œ	9
Open-mid central unrounded vowel	open-mid	central	unrounded	326	ɜ		ɜ	3
Open-mid central rounded vowel	open-mid	central	rounded	395	ɞ		ɞ	3\
Open-mid back unrounded vowel	open-mid	back	unrounded	314	ʌ		ʌ	V
Open-mid back rounded vowel	open-mid	back	rounded	306	ɔ		ɔ	O
Near-open front unrounded vowel	near-open	front	unrounded	325	æ		æ	{
Near-open central vowel	near-open	central	undefined	324	ɐ		ɐ	6
Open front unrounded vowel	open	front	unrounded	304	a		a	a
Open front rounded vowel	open	front	rounded	312	ɶ		ɶ	&
Open back unrounded vowel	open	back	unrounded	305	ɑ		ɑ	A
Open back rounded vowel	open	back	rounded	313	ɒ		ɒ	Q

See also

• List of consonants
• Index of phonetics articles