# Open-mid central rounded vowel

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The open-mid central rounded vowel, or low-mid central rounded vowel, is a vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɞ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3\. The symbol is called closed reversed epsilon. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ɔ̈⟩.
IPA charts were first published with this vowel transcribed as a closed epsilon, ⟨ʚ⟩ (that is, a closed variant of ⟨ɛ⟩, much as the high-mid vowel letter ⟨ɵ⟩ is a closed variant of ⟨e⟩), and this variant made its way into Unicode as U+029A ʚ LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED OPEN E. The IPA charts were later changed to the current closed reversed epsilon ⟨ɞ⟩, and this was adopted into Unicode as U+025E ɞ LATIN SMALL LETTER CLOSED REVERSED OPEN E.

## 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 central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
* It is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded rather than spread or relaxed.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Afrikaans | Afrikaans | lug | [lɞχ] | 'air' | Also been described as mid [ɞ̝], typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨œ⟩. Many speakers merge /œ/ with /ə/, even in formal speech. See Afrikaans phonology |
| English | Irish | but | [bɞθ̠] | 'but' | Corresponds to [ʌ] in other varieties. See English phonology |
| English | New Zealand | not | [nɞʔt] | 'not' | Possible realization of /ɒ/. See New Zealand English phonology |
| Faroese | Faroese | høgur | [ˈhɞːʋʊɹ] | 'high' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨øː⟩. See Faroese phonology |
| French | Parisian | port | | 'port', 'harbour' | Described variously as an allophone of /ɔ/ before /ʁ/ and as the default allophone of /ɔ/. See French phonology |
| German | Chemnitz dialect | Wonne | [ˈv̞ɞnə] | 'bliss' | May be transcribed as ⟨ɞ̝⟩ though ⟨ɞ⟩ is typically used. |
| Irish | Irish | tomhail | [t̪ˠɞːlʲ] | 'consume' (imp.) | See Irish phonology |
| Kashubian | Kashubian | ptôch | [ptɞx] | 'bird' | |
| Limburgish | Maastrichtian | lui | [lɞː] | 'lazy' | Allophone of /œy/ in words with Accent 2. May be slightly diphthongal [ɞɵ] itself. It contrasts with the near-open [ɐ̹ː] in words with Accent 2 ([ɐ̹ː] itself is always toneless). It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨œː⟩, as it is a phonological front vowel. |
| Mortlockese | Mortlockese | mér | [mɞr] | 'to sleep' | Phonemic vowel. |
| Mwerlap | Mwerlap | N̄wërlap | [ŋʷɞrˈlap] | 'Merelava' | |
| Navajo | Navajo | tsosts’id | [tsʰɞstsˈɪt] | 'seven' | See Navajo phonology |
| Northern Tiwa | Taos dialect | ącut'uonbo | [ʔãˌtʃʊt̚ːˈʔuɞnbɑ] | 'his-garment-around' | Allophone of /ɑ/. See Taos phonology |
| Panará | Panará | [kɾə'kɞ] | [kɾə'kɞ] | 'trousers' | Contrasts with [ə]. |
| Poitevin | Poitevin | o doune | [ɞ dun] | 'he gives' | |
| West Frisian | Southwestern dialects | boare | [ˈbɞːrə] | 'tomcat' | Corresponds to [wa] in other dialects. See West Frisian phonology |