vowel
vowel — 名詞
1. a human speech sound that you create by opening your mouth so air can exit freel
母音
發音時氣流不受阻的聲音
a human speech sound that you create by opening your mouth so air can exit freely, as nothing in the mouth blocks the flow
The vowel sound in 'hat' differs from the one in 'hot', though both are short.
「hat」中的母音與「hot」中的不同，雖然兩者都是短母音。
short vowels: 'hat' vs 'hot'
Obi's language teacher asked the class to hold each vowel sound for two seconds.
Obi 的語言老師要求全班同學將每個母音維持兩秒鐘。
practicing vowel sound duration
When Esteban said 'thirteen', his vowel sound came out too long and changed the word.
Esteban 說「thirteen」的時候，母音拉得太長，結果變成了另一個字。
During phonics class, Beatriz compared the five vowel sounds of Spanish with twenty in English.
在語音課上，Beatriz 比較了西班牙語的五個母音和英語的二十個母音。
Nila could hear the vowel sound difference between 'sleep' and 'slip' after weeks of practice.
Nila 練習數週後，就能聽出「sleep」和「slip」之間母音的差異。
- vowel sound
more explicit, used to distinguish the sound from the written letter
- monophthong
technical term for a pure vowel with one stable quality; C2 vocabulary
- consonant
a speech sound made by blocking or restricting airflow
用法筆記
Frequently used in phonetics and language-learning contexts. Vowels are classified by tongue height (high/mid/low), tongue position (front/central/back), and lip rounding.
常見錯誤
2. a written character used to represent a spoken vowel, such as the English letter
母音字母
代表母音的書寫符號
a written character used to represent a spoken vowel, such as the English letters A, E, and I along with O, U, and occasionally Y
Minho underlined the vowel letter in each word during his spelling quiz at school.
Minho 在學校的拼字小考中，把每個單字的母音字母都畫了底線。
finding vowel letters in spelling practice
Jude listed the five vowel letters on his whiteboard — A, E, I, O, and U.
Jude 在他的白板上列出了五個母音字母——A、E、I、O 和 U。
the five vowel letters
Jabari asked his English teacher why Y becomes a vowel letter in the word 'rhythm'.
Jabari 問他的英文老師，為什麼在「rhythm」這個字中 Y 會變成母音字母。
Dylan's class learned the vowel letters by singing them to a simple tune.
Dylan 的班級用唱簡單旋律的方式學會了母音字母。
Adina typed 'queue' into her phone and giggled at four vowel letters in a row.
Adina 在手機上打出「queue」這個字，看到四個母音連在一起時忍不住笑了出來。
- vowel letter
explicit term that avoids confusion with vowel sounds
- vowel symbol
more technical; can include diacritics or phonetic symbols
- consonant letter
a letter that represents a consonant sound
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: this sense refers to the written symbol, not the acoustic sound. In English, Y is considered a vowel letter only when it represents a vowel sound (e.g., 'myth', 'gym'), not a consonant sound (e.g., 'yes', 'yellow').