| Ipa Symbol: | ɛ |
| Ipa Number: | 303 |
| Decimal: | 603 |
| X-Sampa: | E |
| Kirshenbaum: | E |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x025B.svg |
| Braille: | ar |
pronounced as /vowels/
The open-mid front unrounded vowel, or low-mid front unrounded vowel, is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is the Latin epsilon, a Latinized variant of the Greek lowercase epsilon, (IPA|ɛ).
| Language | Word | Meaning | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akan (Twi) | ɛyɛ | pronounced as /[ɛjɛ]/ | 'it is good/fine' | See Akan phonology | ||
| Arabic | See Imāla | |||||
| Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''է'''ջ]]/ēj | pronounced as /[ɛd͡ʒ]/ | 'page' | ||||
| Amstetten dialect[1] | Typically transcribed in IPA with (IPA|æ). | |||||
| Bengali: [[Bengali alphabet|'''এ'''ক]]/ek | pronounced as /[ɛk]/ | 'one' | Alternative transcription and phonetic realisation of [{{IPA link|æ}}] and an allophone of [{{IPA link|e}}]. See Bengali phonology | |||
| Breton[2] | gwenn | [ˈɡwɛnː] | 'white' | |||
| Bulgarian: [[Bulgarian language|п'''е'''т]]/pet | pronounced as /[pɛt̪]/ | 'five' | See Bulgarian phonology | |||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|s'''e'''t]] | pronounced as /[ˈsɛt]/ | 'seven' | See Catalan phonology | |||
| Chinese | Mandarin | [[Chinese characters|天]] / [[Hanyu Pinyin|ti'''ān''']] | 'sky' | Height varies between mid and open depending on the speaker. See Standard Chinese phonology | ||
| Chuvash | ҫепĕç | ['ɕɛp̬ɘɕ] | 'gentle, tender' | |||
| Czech: [[Czech orthography|l'''e'''d]] | pronounced as /[lɛt]/ | 'ice' | In Bohemian Czech, this vowel varies between open-mid front pronounced as /[ɛ]/, open-mid near-front pronounced as /[ɛ̠]/ and mid near-front pronounced as /link/. See Czech phonology | |||
| Standard | Danish: [[Dano-Norwegian alphabet|fr'''i'''sk]] | pronounced as /[ˈfʁɛsk]/ | 'fresh' | Most often transcribed in IPA with (IPA|æ). See Danish phonology | ||
| Standard | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|b'''e'''d]] | 'bed' | See Dutch phonology | |||
| Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch orthography|j'''ij''']] | 'you' | Corresponds to pronounced as /[ɛi]/ in standard Dutch. | ||||
| bed | 'bed' | |||||
| May be somewhat lowered. | ||||||
| Received Pronunciation[3] | Older RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel pronounced as /link/. See English phonology | |||||
| Younger General Australian speakers | Realization of / | |||||
| fat | pronounced as /[fɛt]/ | 'fat' | ||||
| See New Zealand English phonology | ||||||
| Broad Australian | Realization of /æ/. General Australian speakers realize this vowel as pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/. See Australian English phonology | |||||
| Some Broad South African speakers | Other speakers realize this vowel as pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/. See South African English phonology | |||||
| Belfast[4] | days | pronounced as /[dɛːz]/ | 'days' | Pronounced pronounced as /[iə]/ in closed syllables; corresponds to pronounced as /[eɪ]/ in RP. | ||
| Zulu[5] | mate | pronounced as /[mɛt]/ | 'mate' | Speakers exhibit a met-mate merger. | ||
| Faroese: [[Faroese orthography|fr'''e'''kt]] | pronounced as /[fɹɛʰkt]/ | 'greedy' | See Faroese phonology | |||
| French: [[French orthography|b'''ê'''te]] | 'beast' | See French phonology | ||||
| Galician: [[Galician phonology|f'''e'''rro]] | pronounced as /[ˈfɛro̝]/ | 'iron' | ||||
| Georgian: [[Georgian alphabet|გ'''ე'''დი]]/gedi | pronounced as /[ɡɛdi]/ | 'swan' | ||||
| German: [[German orthography|B'''e'''tt]] | 'bed' | Also described as mid pronounced as /link/. See Standard German phonology | ||||
| Franconian accent | German: [[German orthography|od'''er''']] | pronounced as /[ˈoːdɛ]/ | 'or' | Used instead of pronounced as /link/. See Standard German phonology | ||
| Coastal Northern accents | ||||||
| Swabian accent | German: [[German orthography|f'''e'''tt]] | pronounced as /[fɛt]/ | 'fat' | Contrasts with the close-mid pronounced as /link/. See Standard German phonology | ||
| Western Swiss accents | German: [[German orthography|S'''ee''']] | pronounced as /[z̥ɛː]/ | 'lake' | Close-mid pronounced as /link/ in other accents; contrasts with the near-open pronounced as /link/. See Standard German phonology | ||
| Hindi: [[Devanagari|रहना]] | pronounced as /[ˈɾɛɦna]/ | 'to stay' | See Hindustani phonology | |||
| Urdu: [[Nastaliq|رہنا]]|rtl=yes | ||||||
| Hungarian | lesz | [ˈlɛs] | 'will be' | Allophone of [æ]. | ||
| Italian | Italian: [[Italian alphabet|b'''e'''ne]] | 'good' | See Italian phonology | |||
| mbre | pronounced as /[ˈᵐbɾɛ]/ | 'with' | ||||
| Korean: [[Hangul|매미]] / Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|m'''ae'''mi]] | pronounced as /[mɛːmi]/ | 'cicada' | See Korean phonology | |||
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | Kurdish: [[Kurdish orthography|h'''e'''vde]] | pronounced as /[hɛvdɛ]/ | 'seventeen' | See Kurdish phonology | |
| Sorani (Central) | Kurdish: [[Kurdish orthography|ههڤده]]/hevde | pronounced as /[hɛvdæ]/ | ||||
| Pehlewî (Southern) | pronounced as /[hɛvdæ]/ | |||||
| Limburgan; Limburger; Limburgish: cr'''è'''me | pronounced as /[kʀ̝ɛːm]/ | 'cream' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |||
| Lithuanian: [[Lithuanian orthography|m'''e'''sti]] | pronounced as /[mɛs̪t̪ɪ]/ | 'throw' | See Lithuanian phonology | |||
| Lower Sorbian: s'''e'''rp | pronounced as /[s̪ɛrp]/ | 'sickle' | ||||
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: St'''ä'''r | pronounced as /[ʃtɛːɐ̯]/ | 'star' | Allophone of pronounced as //eː// before pronounced as //ʀ//. See Luxembourgish phonology | |||
| Standard | Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|м'''е'''д]]/med | pronounced as /[ˈmɛd̪]/ | 'honey' | See Macedonian language § Vowels | ||
| Malay | Standard | paling | pronounced as /[pälɛŋ]/ | 'to play' | Possible realisation of pronounced as //i// and pronounced as //e// in closed final syllables. See Malay phonology | |
| Negeri Sembilan | cepat | pronounced as /[cɔpɛɁ]/ | 'quick' | See Negeri Sembilan Malay | ||
| Kelatan-Pattani | ayam | pronounced as /[äjɛː]/ | 'chicken' | See Kelatan-Pattani | ||
| Terengganu | biasa | pronounced as /[bɛsə]/ | 'normal' | See Terengganu Malay | ||
| Perak | mata | pronounced as /[matɛ]/ | 'eye' | See Perak Malay | ||
| colspan"2" | affaûrder | pronounced as /[afɔrˈdɛ]/ | 'to afford' | |||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|p'''e'''st]] | pronounced as /[pʰɛst]/ | 'plague' | See Norwegian phonology | |||
| Occitan (post 1500);: [[Occitan alphabet|gr'''è'''ga]] | pronounced as /[ˈɣɾɛɣɔ]/ | 'Greek' | See Occitan phonology | |||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|t'''e'''n]] | 'this one' (nom. m.) | See Polish phonology | ||||
| Most dialects[6] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|p'''é''']] | pronounced as /[ˈpɛ]/ | 'foot' | Stressed vowel might be lower pronounced as /link/. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨e⟩ allophones, such as pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|e̞}} {{IPAplink|e}} {{IPAplink|ɪ}} {{IPAplink|i}} {{IPAplink|ʊ|ɨ}}]/, varies according to dialect. | ||
| Some speakers[7] | Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|t'''em'''po]] | pronounced as /[ˈt̪ɛ̃mpu]/ | 'time' | Timbre differences for nasalized vowels are mainly kept in European Portuguese. See Portuguese phonology | ||
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|v'''e'''de]] | pronounced as /[ˈvɛɟe]/ | '(he) sees' | Corresponds to mid pronounced as /link/ in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|'''э'''то]]/eto | 'this' | See Russian phonology | ||||
| Allophone of pronounced as //a//. | ||||||
| Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|m'''e'''t]] | pronounced as /[mɛ́t]/ | 'throw' (n.) | See Slovene phonology | |||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish alphabet|las madr'''e'''s]] | pronounced as /[læ̞ː ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛː]/ | 'the mothers' | Corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology | |||
| Murcian | ||||||
| Swahili | shule | [ʃulɛ] | 'school' | |||
| Central Standard | Swedish: [[Swedish alphabet|'''ä'''t]] | pronounced as /[ɛ̠ːt̪]/ | 'eat' (imp.) | Somewhat retracted. See Swedish phonology | ||
| Tagalog: [[Filipino orthography|p'''e'''k'''e''']] | pronounced as /[ˈpɛxɛʔ]/ | 'fake' | See Tagalog phonology | |||
| చేప | [tʃɛːa] | 'Fish' | ||||
| [mɛːka] | 'Goat' | |||||
| pronounced as /[trɛː˧]/ | 'horn (instrument)' | |||||
| Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|ülk'''e''']] | pronounced as /[y̠l̠ˈcɛ]/ | 'country' | Allophone of pronounced as //e// described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology | |||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|д'''е'''нь]]/den' | pronounced as /[dɛnʲ]/ | 'day' | See Ukrainian phonology | |||
| Upper Sorbian: č'''e'''lo | pronounced as /[ˈt͡ʃɛlɔ]/ | 'calf' | ||||
| Welsh | nesaf | [nɛsav] | 'next' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| Western Frisian: b'''e'''ppe | pronounced as /[ˈbɛpə]/ | 'grandma' | See West Frisian phonology | |||
| pronounced as /[ɛ̄sɛ]/ | 'leg' | |||||
pronounced as /navigation/