| Above: | Voiced labial–velar approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | w |
| Ipa Number: | 170 |
| Decimal: | 119 |
| X-Sampa: | w |
| Kirshenbaum: | w |
| Braille: | w |
| Above: | Compressed labial–velar approximant |
| Ipa Symbol: | w͍ |
| Ipa Symbol2: | ɰᵝ |
| Showbelow: | no |
The voiced labial–velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages, including English. It is the sound denoted by the letter (w) in the English alphabet;[1] likewise, the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|w), or rarely pronounced as /[ɰʷ]/, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w. In most languages it is the semivocalic counterpart of the close back rounded vowel pronounced as /[u]/. In inventory charts of languages with other labialized velar consonants, pronounced as //w// will be placed in the same column as those consonants. When consonant charts have only labial and velar columns, pronounced as //w// may be placed in the velar column, (bi)labial column, or both. The placement may have more to do with phonological criteria than phonetic ones.
Some languages have a voiced labial–prevelar approximant, which is more fronted than the place of articulation of the prototypical voiced labialized velar approximant, though not as front as the prototypical labialized palatal approximant.
Features of the voiced labial–velar approximant:
The type of approximant is glide or semivowel. The term glide emphasizes the characteristic of movement (or 'glide') of pronounced as //w// from the pronounced as //u// vowel position to a following vowel position. The term semivowel emphasizes that, although the sound is vocalic in nature, it is not 'syllabic' (it does not form the nucleus of a syllable). Some languages, such as Japanese and perhaps the Northern Iroquoian languages, have a sound typically transcribed as pronounced as /[w]/ where the lips are compressed (or at least not rounded), which is a true labial–velar (as opposed to labialized velar) consonant. Close transcriptions may avoid the symbol pronounced as /[w]/ in such cases, or may use the under-rounding diacritic, pronounced as /[w̜]/.
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ауаҩы/awawë | pronounced as /[awaˈɥə]/ | 'human' | See Abkhaz phonology | |||
| Gie'''l''' | pronounced as /[ɡ̊iə̯w]/ | 'boy' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|وَرْد]]|rtl=yes/ward | pronounced as /[ward]/ | 'rose' | See Arabic phonology | |||
| ৱাশ্বিংটন/Wašińton | pronounced as /[waʃiŋtɔn]/ | 'Washington' | ||||
| Basque: [[Basque alphabet|la'''u''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[law]/ | 'four' | ||||
| Belarusian: [[Belarusian alphabet|во'''ў'''к]]/vowk | pronounced as /[vɔwk]/ | 'wolf' | See Belarusian phonology | |||
| Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|ওয়াদা]]/wada | pronounced as /[wada]/ | 'promise' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/ when preceding a vowel word-initially. See Bengali phonology | |||
| Berber | Berber languages: ⴰ'''ⵡ'''ⴰⵍ/äwäl | pronounced as /[æwæl]/ | 'speech' | |||
| Breton | Breton: na'''v''' | pronounced as /[ˈnaw]/ | 'nine' | |||
| Colloquial | Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''л'''опата]]/lopata | pronounced as /[wo'patɐ]/ | 'shovel' | Contemporary pronunciation of /pronounced as /ink//, an ongoing sound change. See Bulgarian phonology. | ||
| Pernik dialects | This dialect has a long-standing tradition of pronouncing /ɫ/ as /w/, similar to the Polish language. Independent of the similar sound change happening in the standard language. | |||||
| Standard Bulgarian | Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian alphabet|'''у'''иски]]/uiski | pronounced as /['wisk̟i]/ | 'whiskey' | Appears in borrowings. See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|q'''u'''art]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkwɑɾt]/ | 'fourth' | Post-lexically after pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //ɡ//. See Catalan phonology | |||
| Chinese: [[Chinese characters|挖]]/Chinese: [[Yale romanization of Cantonese|'''w'''aat]]|italic=yes | 'dig' | See Cantonese phonology | ||||
| Chinese: [[Chinese characters|挖]]/Chinese: [[Pinyin|'''w'''ā]] | See Mandarin phonology | |||||
| Danish: [[Danish orthography|ha'''v''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[hɑw]/ | 'ocean' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Colloquial | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch alphabet|kou'''w'''e]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkʌu̯wə]/ | 'cold' | Lenited allophone of pronounced as //d// after pronounced as //ʌu̯//. See Dutch phonology | ||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch alphabet|'''w'''elp]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[wɛɫp]/ | 'cub' | May also occur in this context in some continental Dutch accents and/or dialects.[2] [3] Corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in most of the Netherlands and to pronounced as /link/ in Belgium and (southern) parts of the Netherlands. See Dutch phonology | |||
| English: [[English orthography|'''w'''eep]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[wiːp]/ | 'weep' | See English phonology | |||
| French: [[French orthography|'''ou'''i]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[wi]/ | 'yes' | See French phonology | |||
| German: [[German orthography|Q'''u'''elle]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[kweːlə]/ | 'source' | Some regions | |||
| Hawaiian: [[Hawaiian alphabet|'''w'''iki'''w'''iki]] | pronounced as /[wikiwiki]/ | 'fast' | May also be realized as pronounced as /[v]/. See Hawaiian phonology | |||
| Hebrew: [[Hebrew orthography|כּוֹחַ]]|rtl=yes/kowaḥ | pronounced as /[ˈkowaħ]/ | 'power' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | |||
| Hindustani | Hindi | Hindi: [[Devanāgarī|विश्'''वा'''स/višwas]] | pronounced as /[ʋɪʃwaːs]/ | 'believe' | See Hindustani phonology | |
| Urdu | Urdu: [[nasta'liq|višwas/وش'''و'''اس]]|rtl=yes | |||||
| Irish: [[Irish orthography|'''v'''óta]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈwoːt̪ˠə]/ | 'vote' | See Irish phonology | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|'''u'''omo]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈwɔːmo]/ | 'man' | See Italian phonology | |||
| Kabardian: [[Cyrillic script|'''у'''э]]/wa | 'you' | |||||
| Kazakh: [[Cyrillic script|а'''у'''а]]/awa | [awa] | 'air' | ||||
| Korean: [[Hangul|왜가리]]/Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|'''w'''ägari]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[wɛɡɐɾi]/ | 'heron' | See Korean phonology | |||
| Lao: [[Lao script|ຫວານ]]/Van | pronounced as /[wäːn˨˩˦]/ | 'sweet' | See Lao phonology | |||
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: z'''w'''ee|italic=yes | pronounced as /[t͡swe̝ː]/ | 'two' | Allophone of pronounced as //v// after pronounced as //k, t͡s, ʃ//. See Luxembourgish phonology | |||
| Malay: [[Malay alphabet|'''w'''ang]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[waŋ]/ | 'money' | ||||
| Malayalam | ഉവ്വ്/uwî | pronounced as /[uwːɨ̆]/ | 'Yes' | Some dialects. | ||
| Mayan | Yucatec | witz | pronounced as /[wit͡s]/ | 'mountain' | ||
| [[Devanāgarī|हा'''वा'''/hawa]]|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[ɦäwä]/ | 'wind' | ||||
| ଅଗ୍ରୱାଲ୍/ogrowal | pronounced as /[ɔgɾɔwäl]/ | 'Agrawal' | ||||
| Pushto; Pashto: [[Perso-Arabic alphabet|ﻭﺍﺭ]]|rtl=yes/war | pronounced as /[wɑr]/ | 'one time' | ||||
| Persian: [[Perso-Arabic alphabet|وَ'''رزِش''']]|rtl=yes/warziš | pronounced as /[warzɪʃ]/ | 'sport' | may approach /ʋ/ in some regional dialects. | |||
| Persian: [[Perso-Arabic alphabet|نَو]]|rtl=yes/now | pronounced as /[now]/ | 'new' | Only as a diphthong or colloquially. | |||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|'''ł'''aska]]|italic=yes | 'grace' | See Polish phonology. Corresponds to pronounced as /[ɫ]/ in older pronunciation and eastern dialects | ||||
| Most dialects | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|q'''u'''ando]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkwɐ̃du]/ | 'when' | Post-lexically after pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/. See Portuguese phonology | ||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|b'''oa''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈbow.wɐ]/ | 'good' (f.) | Epenthetic glide or allophone of pronounced as /link/, following a stressed rounded vowel and preceding an unrounded one. | |||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|qua'''l''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkwaw]/ | 'which' | Allophone of pronounced as /link/ in coda position for most Brazilian dialects. | |||
| Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian orthography|dulă'''u''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[d̪uˈl̪əw]/ | 'mastiff' | See Romanian phonology | |||
| Belarusian: [[Russian alphabet|'''в'''о'''л'''к]]/volk | pronounced as /[wou̯k]/ | 'wolf' | Southern dialects. | |||
| [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''v'''uk]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[wûːk]/ | 'wolf' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʋ// before pronounced as //u//. See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| [[Seri alphabet|c'''m'''iique]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkw̃ĩːkːɛ]/ | 'person' | Allophone of pronounced as //m// | |||
| Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|cerke'''v''']]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈt͡sèːrkəw]/ | 'church' | Allophone of pronounced as //ʋ// in the syllable coda. Voiceless pronounced as /link/ before voiceless consonants. See Slovene phonology | |||
| sewa | pronounced as /[ˈsewa]/ | 'epidemic' | See Sesotho phonology | |||
| კუ̂ენ/k'wen | pronounced as /[kʼwen]/ | 'marten' | ||||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|c'''u'''anto]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈkwãn̪t̪o̞]/ | 'as much' | See Spanish phonology | |||
| Swahili: m'''w'''anafunzi|italic=yes | pronounced as /[mwɑnɑfunzi]/ | 'student' | ||||
| Central Standard | Labialized approximant consonant; allophone of pronounced as //ɡ// in casual speech before the protruded vowels pronounced as //ɔ, oː//. See Swedish phonology | |||||
| araw | pronounced as /[ˈɐɾaw]/ | 'day' | See Tagalog phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[wɛ̌ːn]/ | 'ring' | See Thai phonology | ||||
| Vietnamese: [[Vietnamese alphabet|t'''u'''ần]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[t̪wən˨˩]/ | 'week' | See Vietnamese phonology | |||
| Ukrainian | любов/lübov | [lʲubɔw] | 'love' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Welsh: [[Welsh alphabet|g'''w'''ae]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡwaɨ]/ | 'woe' | See Welsh phonology | |||
| Western Frisian: sko'''w'''e|italic=yes | pronounced as /[skoːwə]/ | 'to shove' | ||||
pronounced as /navigation/