Table of vowels

This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help.

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

Legend: unrounded • rounded

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

See also