# Close-mid central unrounded vowel

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The close-mid central unrounded vowel, or high-mid central 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 ⟨ɘ⟩. This is a mirrored letter e and should not be confused with the schwa ⟨ə⟩, which is a turned e. It was added to the IPA in 1993; before that, this vowel was transcribed ⟨ë⟩ (Latin small letter e with diaeresis, not the Cyrillic small letter yo (ё). Certain older sources transcribe this vowel ⟨ɤ̈⟩.
The letter ⟨ɘ⟩ may be used with a lowering diacritic ⟨ɘ̞⟩, to denote the mid central unrounded vowel.
Conversely, ⟨ə⟩, the symbol for the mid central vowel may be used with a raising diacritic ⟨ə̝⟩ to denote the close-mid central unrounded vowel, although that is more accurately written with an additional unrounding diacritic ⟨ə̝͑⟩ to explicitly denote the lack of rounding (the canonical value of IPA ⟨ə⟩ is undefined for rounding).

## Features

* Its vowel height is close-mid, also known as high-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a close vowel (a high 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 unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

## Occurrence

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Chuvash | Chuvash | пӗррехинче | [pɘrrɛχint͡ɕɛ] | 'once' | |
| Cotabato Manobo | Cotabato Manobo | | | | May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. |
| Dinka | Luanyjang | ŋeŋ | [ŋɘ́ŋ] | 'jawbone' | Short allophone of /e/. |
| English | Australian | bird | [bɘːd] | 'bird' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɜː⟩. Optionally rounded. See Australian English phonology |
| English | Cardiff | foot | [fɘt] | 'foot' | Less often rounded [ɵ]; corresponds to [ʊ] in other dialects. See English phonology |
| English | New Zealand | bit | [bɘt] | 'bit' | Merger of /ə/ and /ɪ/ found in other dialects. See New Zealand English phonology |
| English | Southern American | nut | [nɘt] | 'nut' | Some dialects. Corresponds to /ʌ/ in other dialects. See English phonology |
| Estonian | Estonian | kõrv | [kɘrv] | 'ear' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩; can be close-mid back [ɤ] or close back [ɯ] instead, depending on the speaker. See Estonian phonology |
| Irish | Munster | sáile | [ˈsˠɰaːlʲə̝] | 'salt water' | Usually transcribed in IPA with [ɪ̽]. It is an allophone of /ə/ next to non-palatal slender consonants. See Irish phonology |
| Jebero | Jebero | ɨx[e/ï][k/c/q] | [ˈiʃɘk] | 'bat' | |
| Kaingang | Kaingang | me | [ˈᵐbɘ] | 'tail' | Varies between central [ɘ] and back [ɤ]. |
| Kalagan Kaagan | Kalagan Kaagan | [miˈwə̝ːʔ] | [miˈwə̝ːʔ] | 'lost' | Allophone of /ɨ/ in word-final stressed syllables before /ʔ/; can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. |
| Kensiu | Kensiu | [ɟɚ̝h] | [ɟɚ̝h] | 'to trim' | Rhotacized; may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɚ⟩. |
| Kera | Kera | [t͡ʃə̝̄wā̠a̠] | [t͡ʃə̝̄wā̠a̠] | 'fire' | Allophone of /a/; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. |
| Korean | Korean | 어른/ŏŏleun | [ə̝ːɾɯ̽n] | 'adult' | May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨əː⟩. See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Kurmanji | dil/دل | [dɘl] | 'heart' | Allophone of /ɪ/. Sorani alphabet does not transcribe this vowel phoneme in text. |
| Kurdish | Sorani | dil/دل | [dɘl] | 'heart' | Allophone of /ɪ/. Sorani alphabet does not transcribe this vowel phoneme in text. |
| Lizu | Lizu | [$^F$kə̝] | [$^F$kə̝] | 'eagle' | Allophone of /ə/ after velar stops. |
| Mapudungun | Mapudungun | elün | [ë̝ˈlɘn] | 'to give (something)' | |
| Mongolian | Mongolian | үсэр | [usɘɾɘ̆] | 'jump' | |
| Mono | Mono | dœ | [də̝] | 'be (equative)' | May be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. |
| Polish | Polish | mysz | | 'mouse' | Somewhat fronted; typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɨ⟩. See Polish phonology |
| Romanian | Moldavian dialect | casă | [ˈkäsɘ] | 'house' | Corresponds to [ə] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Shiwiar | Shiwiar | | | | |
| Temne | Temne | pər | [pə̝́r] | 'incite' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ə⟩. |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | vợ | [vɘ˨˩ˀ] | 'wife' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɤ⟩. See Vietnamese phonology |
| Xumi | Upper | [LPmɘ̃dɐ] | [LPmɘ̃dɐ] | 'upstairs' | Nasalized; occurs only in this word. It is realized as mid [ə̃] in Lower Xumi. |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | ne | [nɘ] | 'and' | Most common realization of /e/. |