# Close back unrounded vowel

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The close back unrounded vowel, or high back 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 ⟨ɯ⟩. Typographically, it is a turned letter ⟨m⟩; given its relation to the sound represented by the letter ⟨u⟩, it can be considered a ligature of 2 ⟨u⟩'s.
The close back unrounded vowel can in many cases be considered the vocalic equivalent of the voiced velar approximant [ɰ].

## Features

* Its vowel height is close, also known as high, which means the tongue is positioned close to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
* Its vowel backness is back, which means the tongue is positioned back in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Unrounded back vowels tend to be centralized, which means that often they are in fact near-back.
* It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Acehnese | Acehnese | eu | [ɯ] | 'see' | Also described as closer to [ɨ]. |
| Arara | Arara | îput | [ɯput̚] | 'my skin' | Frequent realisation of /ɨ/. |
| Arbëreshë | Arbëreshë | Arbëreshë | [ɑɾbɯɾeʃ] | 'Arbëreshë' | /ə/ in standard Albanian. |
| Azerbaijani | Azerbaijani | bahalı | [bɑhɑˈɫɯ] | 'expensive' | Closer to an [ɘ] |
| Bashkir | Bashkir | ҡыҙ / qıđ | [qɯð] | 'girl' | |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 刺 / cì | [t͡sʰɯ˥˩] | 'thorn' | |
| Chinese | Some Wu dialects | 父 / vu | [vɯ] | 'father' | |
| Chinese | Xiang | 火 / xu | [xɯ] | 'fire' | |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | ыхра/ıxra | [ɯɣra] | 'garlic' | |
| Crimean Tatar | Crimean Tatar | джаным/canım | [dʒanɯm] | 'my dear' | |
| English | African-American | hook | [hɯ̞k] | 'hook' | Near-close; possible realization of /ʊ/. |
| English | Tidewater | hook | [hɯ̞k] | 'hook' | Near-close; may be rounded [ʊ] instead. |
| English | Some California speakers | goose | [ɡɯˑs] | 'goose' | Corresponds to [uː] in other dialects. |
| English | New Zealand | treacle | [ˈtɹ̝̊iːkɯ] | 'treacle' | Possible realization of the unstressed vowel /ɯ/, which is variable in rounding and ranges from central to (more often) back and close to close-mid. Corresponds to /əl/ in other accents. Develops from dark L; See New Zealand English phonology |
| English | Some Philadelphia speakers | plus | [pɫ̥ɯs] | 'plus' | Used by some speakers; the exact height and backness is variable. It corresponds to [ʌ] in other accents. See English phonology |
| English | South African | pill | [pʰɯ̞ɫ] | 'pill' | Near-close; possible allophone of /ɪ/ before the velarised allophone of /l/. See South African English phonology |
| Estonian | Estonian | kõrv | [kɯrv] | 'ear' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩; can be close-mid central [ɘ] or close-mid back [ɤ] instead, depending on the speaker. See Estonian phonology |
| Irish | Ulster | caol | [kʰɯːl̪ˠ] | 'narrow' | See Irish phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 空気 / kūki | | 'air' | May be compressed [ɯᵝ]. See Japanese phonology |
| Katukina | Katukina | | [babɯˈdʒɯ] | 'oscar (fish)' | |
| Kazakh | Kazakh | қыс/qys/قىس | [qɯs] | 'winter' | May be pronounced as |
| Korean | Korean | 음식 飮食 / eumsik | [ɯːmɕ͈ik̚] | 'food' | See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | tirş | [tˤɯɾʃ] | 'sour' | See Kurdish phonology. The "i" after "t" always uses this sound if the "t" is "tˤ". However, it can also appear at other places. |
| Kurdish | Sorani (Central) | ترش / tirş | [tˤɯɾʃ] | 'sour' | See Kurdish phonology. The "i" after "t" always uses this sound if the "t" is "tˤ". However, it can also appear at other places. |
| Kyrgyz | Kyrgyz | кыз / qyz / قىز | [qɯz] | 'girl' | See Kyrgyz phonology |
| Panará | Panará | | [tɯˈsəʰ] | 'to breathe' | |
| Portuguese | European | pegar | | 'to grab' | Reduced vowel. Near-close. Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɨ⟩. See Portuguese phonology |
| Romanian | Some speakers | când | [kɯnd] | 'when' | Typically described as /ɨ/. See Romanian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | caol | [kʰɯːl̪ˠ] | 'thin' | See Scottish Gaelic phonology |
| Sop | Sop | düm | [dɯm] | 'tree' | See Sop language |
| Tamil | Tamil | அழகு / aḻagu | [əɻəɣɯ] | 'beauty' | Known by the Tamil grammar phenomenon குற்றியலுகரம் |
| Thai | Standard | ขึ้น / khuen/khîn | [kʰɯn˥˩] | 'to go up' | |
| Turkish | Turkish | sığ | [sɯː] | 'shallow' | Described variously as close back [ɯ], near-close near-back [ɯ̞] and close central [ɨ]. See Turkish phonology |
| Turkmen | Turkmen | ýaşyl/یاشیٛل | [jɑːˈʃɯl] | 'green' | |
| Uyghur | Uyghur | تىلىم/tılım / tilim | [tɯlɯm] | 'my language' | In complementary distribution with /ɪ/. See Uyghur phonology |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | tư | [tɯ] | 'fourth' | See Vietnamese phonology |