# Open-mid front unrounded vowel

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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, ⟨ɛ⟩.

## Features

* Its vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel (a low vowel) and a mid vowel.
* Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned forward in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
* It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Akan (Twi) | Akan (Twi) | ɛyɛ | [ɛjɛ] | 'it is good/fine' | See Akan phonology |
| Arabic | | | | | See Imāla |
| Armenian | Eastern | էջ/ēj | [ɛd͡ʒ] | 'page' | |
| Bavarian | Amstetten dialect | | | | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨æ⟩. |
| Bengali | Bengali | এক/ek | [ɛk] | 'one' | Alternative transcription and phonetic realisation of [æ]. See Bengali phonology |
| Breton | Breton | gwenn | [ˈɡwɛnː] | 'white' | |
| Bulgarian | Bulgarian | пет/pet | [pɛt̪] | 'five' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | set | [ˈsɛt] | 'seven' | See Catalan phonology |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 天 / tiān | | 'sky' | Height varies between mid and open depending on the speaker. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | ҫепĕç | ['ɕɛp̬ɘɕ] | 'gentle, tender' | |
| Czech | Czech | led | [lɛt] | 'ice' | In Bohemian Czech, this vowel varies between open-mid front [ɛ], open-mid near-front [ɛ̠] and mid near-front [ɛ̝̈]. See Czech phonology |
| Danish | Standard | frisk | [ˈfʁɛsk] | 'fresh' | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨æ⟩. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard | bed | | 'bed' | See Dutch phonology |
| Dutch | The Hague | jij | | 'you' | Corresponds to [ɛi] in standard Dutch. |
| English | General American | bed | | 'bed' | |
| English | Northern England | bed | | 'bed' | May be somewhat lowered. |
| English | Received Pronunciation | bed | | 'bed' | Older RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel [e̞]. See English phonology |
| English | Younger General Australian speakers | bed | | 'bed' | Realization of /e/ due to an ongoing short-front vowel chain shift. See Australian English phonology |
| English | Scottish | bed | | 'bed' | |
| English | Cockney | fat | [fɛt] | 'fat' | |
| English | Singaporean | fat | [fɛt] | 'fat' | |
| English | New Zealand | fat | [fɛt] | 'fat' | See New Zealand English phonology |
| English | Broad Australian | fat | [fɛt] | 'fat' | Realization of /æ/. General Australian speakers realize this vowel as [æ] or [a]. See Australian English phonology |
| English | Some Broad South African speakers | fat | [fɛt] | 'fat' | Other speakers realize this vowel as [æ] or [a]. See South African English phonology |
| English | Belfast | days | [dɛːz] | 'days' | Pronounced [iə] in closed syllables; corresponds to [eɪ] in RP. |
| English | Zulu | mate | [mɛt] | 'mate' | Speakers exhibit a met-mate merger. |
| Faroese | Faroese | frekt | [fɹɛʰkt] | 'greedy' | See Faroese phonology |
| French | French | bête | | 'beast' | See French phonology |
| Galician | Galician | ferro | [ˈfɛro̝] | 'iron' | See Galician phonology |
| Georgian | Georgian | გედი/gedi | [ɡɛdi] | 'swan' | |
| German | Standard | Bett | | 'bed' | Also described as mid [ɛ̝]. See Standard German phonology |
| German | Franconian accent | oder | [ˈoːdɛ] | 'or' | Used instead of [ɐ]. See Standard German phonology |
| German | Coastal Northern accents | oder | [ˈoːdɛ] | 'or' | Used instead of [ɐ]. See Standard German phonology |
| German | Swabian accent | fett | [fɛt] | 'fat' | Contrasts with the close-mid [e]. See Standard German phonology |
| German | Western Swiss accents | See | [z̥ɛː] | 'lake' | Close-mid [eː] in other accents; contrasts with the near-open [æː]. See Standard German phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi | रहना | [ˈɾɛɦna] | 'to stay' | See Hindustani phonology |
| Hindustani | Urdu | رہنا | [ˈɾɛɦna] | 'to stay' | See Hindustani phonology |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | lesz | [ˈlɛsː] | 'will be' | Allophone of [æ]. |
| Italian | Italian | bene | | 'good' | See Italian phonology |
| Kaingang | Kaingang | mbre | [ˈᵐbɾɛ] | 'with' | |
| Korean | Korean | 매미 / maemi | [mɛːmi] | 'cicada' | Merged with /e/ for many speakers. See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | hevde | [hɛvdɛ] | 'seventeen' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Sorani (Central) | هه‌ڤده/hevde | [hɛvdæ] | 'seventeen' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Pehlewî (Southern) | هه‌ڤده/hevde | [hɛvdæ] | 'seventeen' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Limburgish | Limburgish | crème | [kʀ̝ɛːm] | 'cream' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. |
| Lithuanian | Lithuanian | mesti | [mɛs̪t̪ɪ] | 'throw' | See Lithuanian phonology |
| Lower Sorbian | Lower Sorbian | serp | [s̪ɛrp] | 'sickle' | |
| Luxembourgish | Luxembourgish | Stär | [ʃtɛːɐ̯] | 'star' | Allophone of /eː/ before /ʀ/. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Macedonian | Standard | мед/med | [ˈmɛd̪] | 'honey' | See Macedonian language § Vowels |
| Malay | Standard | paling | [pälɛŋ] | 'to play' | Possible realisation of /i/ and /e/ in closed final syllables. See Malay phonology |
| Malay | Negeri Sembilan | cepat | [cɔpɛɁ] | 'quick' | See Negeri Sembilan Malay |
| Malay | Kelatan-Pattani | ayam | [äjɛː] | 'chicken' | See Kelatan-Pattani |
| Malay | Terengganu | biasa | [bɛsə] | 'normal' | See Terengganu Malay |
| Malay | Perak | mata | [matɛ] | 'eye' | See Perak Malay |
| Norman | Jersey | affaûrder | [afɔrˈdɛ] | 'to afford' | |
| Norwegian | Sognamål | pest | [pʰɛst] | 'plague' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Occitan | Occitan | grèga | [ˈɣɾɛɣɔ] | 'Greek' | See Occitan phonology |
| Polish | Polish | ten | | 'this one' (nom. m.) | See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Most dialects | pé | [ˈpɛ] | 'foot' | Stressed vowel might be lower [æ]. The presence and use of other unstressed ⟨e⟩ allophones, such as [e̞ e ɪ i ɨ], varies according to dialect. |
| Portuguese | Some speakers | tempo | [ˈt̪ɛ̃mpu] | 'time' | Timbre differences for nasalized vowels are mainly kept in European Portuguese. See Portuguese phonology |
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects | vede | [ˈvɛɟe] | '(he) sees' | Corresponds to mid [e̞] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Russian | это/eto | | 'this' | See Russian phonology |
| Shiwiar | Shiwiar | | | | Allophone of /a/. |
| Slovene | Slovene | met | [mɛ́t] | 'throw' (n.) | See Slovene phonology |
| Spanish | Eastern Andalusian | las madres | [læ̞ː ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛː] | 'the mothers' | Corresponds to [e̞] in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology |
| Spanish | Murcian | las madres | [læ̞ː ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛː] | 'the mothers' | Corresponds to [e̞] in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology |
| Swahili | Swahili | shule | [ʃulɛ] | 'school' | |
| Swedish | Central Standard | ät | [ɛ̠ːt̪] | 'eat' (imp.) | Somewhat retracted. See Swedish phonology |
| Tagalog | Tagalog | peke | [ˈpɛxɛʔ] | 'fake' | See Tagalog phonology |
| Telugu | Telugu | చేప | [tʃɛːa] | 'Fish' |
| Telugu | Telugu | మేక | [mɛːka] | 'Goat' |
| Thai | Thai | แตร / trae | [trɛː˧] | 'horn (instrument)' | |
| Turkish | Turkish | ülke | [y̠l̠ˈkɛ] | 'country' | Allophone of /e/ described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | день/den' | [dɛnʲ] | 'day' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Upper Sorbian | Upper Sorbian | čelo | [ˈt͡ʃɛlɔ] | 'calf' | |
| Welsh | Welsh | nesaf | [nɛsav] | 'next' | See Welsh phonology |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | beppe | [ˈbɛpə] | 'grandma' | See West Frisian phonology |
| Yoruba | Yoruba | ẹsẹ̀ | [ɛ̄sɛ] | 'leg' | |