Etymology tree
Classical Syriac ܫܘܳܝܳܐ (š'waya)bor.
Hebrew שווא (š’wā)lbor.
German Schwabor.
English schwa
Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.
Meanings
An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.
The participle has also, owing to the accent, the lightest possible forms; but here there was no reduplication, and so in class I. the "schwa" took the form e before single mutes or fricatives, and elsewhere o. 1882, B. W. Wells, “The Ablaut in English”, in Transactions of the American Philological Association, page 67:
However, word-final unstressed schwa is deleted even by the speakers from South Albania, though to different degrees and dependant on the speech style[…] 2006 April 27, Sylvia Moosmüller, Theodor Granser, “The spread of Standard Albanian: An illustration based on an analysis of vowels”, in Language Variation and Change, volume 18, number 2, Cambridge University Press, →DOI:
Etymology tree
Classical Syriac ܫܘܳܝܳܐ (š'waya)bor.
Hebrew שווא (š’wā)lbor.
German Schwabor.
English schwa
Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.
sl polglasnik (indeterminate central vowel) · pt schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · ar شْوَا (indeterminate central vowel) · ko 슈와 (indeterminate central vowel) · pl szwa (indeterminate central vowel) · he שווא \ שְׁוָא (indeterminate central vowel) · pt chevá (indeterminate central vowel) · sk šva (indeterminate central vowel) · vro svaa (indeterminate central vowel) · sh poluglas (indeterminate central vowel) · ja シュワー (indeterminate central vowel) · es schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · eo ŝvao (indeterminate central vowel) · id pepet (indeterminate central vowel) · bg шва (indeterminate central vowel) · nl doffe e (indeterminate central vowel) · it schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · cmn 中央元音 (indeterminate central vowel) · sv schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · fa شوا (indeterminate central vowel) · ru шва (indeterminate central vowel) · ca vocal neutra (indeterminate central vowel) · cmn 涮音 (indeterminate central vowel) · ca schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · fr schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · it scevà (indeterminate central vowel) · fa واکهٔ بیرنگ (indeterminate central vowel) · hu svá (indeterminate central vowel) · pt xuá (indeterminate central vowel) · fi švaa (indeterminate central vowel) · uk шва (indeterminate central vowel) · cs šva (indeterminate central vowel) · nl sjwa (indeterminate central vowel) · de Schwa (indeterminate central vowel) · pt xevá (indeterminate central vowel) · hi श्वा (indeterminate central vowel) · fr e muet (indeterminate central vowel)