# Open-mid front unrounded vowel

| Open-mid front unrounded vowel |
| --- |
| ɛ |
| Audio sample |
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source · help |
| Encoding |
| X-SAMPA | `E` |
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The **open-mid front unrounded vowel** is a sound used in some spoken languages. It is in English and is usually written as e, as in get.

## Characteristics

* The vowel height is open-mid, also known as low-mid, which means the tongue is made with a open vowel (low vowel) and a mid vowel together.
* The vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned in the front.
* It is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

## Examples

| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Akan (Twi) | **ɛ**y**ɛ** | [ɛjɛ] | 'it is good/fine' | See Akan phonology |
| Arabic | Quranic | اَ**تٰى**هُمْ/atāhum | [atɛːhum] | 'he came to them' | /aː/ in Modern Standard Arabic. See Arabic phonology |
| Armenian | Eastern | **է**ջ/ēj | [ɛd͡ʒ] | 'page' |  |
| Bavarian | Amstetten dialect |  | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨æ⟩. |
| Bengali | **ব্যাঙ**/b**ê**ṅ | [bɛŋ] | 'frog' | Also pronounced as /æ/. See Bengali phonology |
| Breton | gw**e**nn | [ˈɡwɛnː] | 'white' |  |
| Bulgarian | п**е**т/pet | [pɛt̪] | 'five' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Catalan | *s**e**t* | [ˈsɛt] | 'seven' | See Catalan phonology |
| Chinese | Mandarin | 天 / *ti**ān | [tʰi̯ɛn˥] | 'sky' | Height varies between mid and open depending on the speaker. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| Chuvash | ҫ**е**пĕҫ | [ˈɕɛp̬ɘɕ] | 'gentle, tender' |  |
| Czech | *l**e**d* | [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 | *fr**i**sk* | [ˈfʁɛsk] | 'fresh' | Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨æ⟩. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard | *b**e**d* | [bɛt] | 'bed' | See Dutch phonology |
| The Hague | *j**ij | [jɛ̞ː] | 'you' | Corresponds to [ɛi] in standard Dutch. |
| English | General American | *b**e**d* | [bɛd] | 'bed' |  |
| Northern England | May be somewhat lowered. |
| Received Pronunciation | Older RP speakers pronounce a closer vowel [e̞]. See English phonology |
| Younger General Australian speakers | Realization of /e/ due to an ongoing short-front vowel chain shift. See Australian English phonology |
| Scottish |  |
| Cockney | *f**a**t* | [fɛt] | 'fat' |  |
| Singaporean |  |
| New Zealand | See New Zealand English phonology |
| Broad Australian | Realization of /æ/. General Australian speakers realize this vowel as [æ] or [a]. See Australian English phonology |
| Some Broad South African speakers | Other speakers realize this vowel as [æ] or [a]. See South African English phonology |
| Belfast | *d**ay**s* | [dɛːz] | 'days' | Pronounced [iə] in closed syllables; corresponds to [eɪ] in RP. |
| Zulu | *m**a**te* | [mɛt] | 'mate' | Speakers exhibit the *met*–*mate* merger. |
| Faroese | *fr**e**kt* | [fɹɛʰkt] | 'greedy' | See Faroese phonology |
| French | *b**ê**te* | [bɛt̪] | 'beast' | See French phonology |
| Galician | *f**e**rro* | [ˈfɛro̝] | 'iron' | See Galician phonology |
| Georgian | გ**ე**დი/g**e**di | [ɡɛdi] | 'swan' |  |
| German | Standard | *B**e**tt* | [b̥ɛt] | 'bed' | Also described as mid [ɛ̝]. See Standard German phonology |
| Franconian accent | *od**er | [ˈoːdɛ] | 'or' | Used instead of [ɐ]. See Standard German phonology |
| Coastal Northern accents |
| Swabian accent | *f**e**tt* | [fɛt] | 'fat' | Contrasts with the close-mid [e]. See Standard German phonology |
| Western Swiss accents | *S**ee | [z̥ɛː] | 'lake' | Close-mid [eː] in other accents; contrasts with the near-open [æː]. See Standard German phonology |
| Hindustani | Hindi–Urdu | ख़ैरियत–خیریت / *kh**ai**riyat* | [xɛːɾɪjət̪] | 'well-being' | See Hindustani phonology. |
| Hungarian | lesz | [ˈlɛsː] | 'will be' | Allophone of [æ]. |
| Italian | *b**e**ne* | [ˈbɛːne] | 'good' | See Italian phonology |
| Kaingang | *mbr**e | [ˈᵐbɾɛ] | 'with' |  |
| Korean | 매미 / *m**ae**mi* | [mɛːmi] | 'cicada' | Merged with /e/ for many speakers. See Korean phonology |
| Kurdish | Kurmanji (Northern) | *h**e**vde* | [hɛvdɛ] | 'seventeen' | See Kurdish phonology |
| Sorani (Central) | هه‌ڤده/h**e**vde | [hɛvdæ] |
| Pehlewî (Southern) | [hɛvdæ] |
| Limburgish | *cr**è**me* | [kʀ̝ɛːm] | 'cream' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. |
| Lithuanian | *m**e**sti* | [mɛs̪t̪ɪ] | 'throw' | See Lithuanian phonology |
| Lower Sorbian | *s**e**rp* | [s̪ɛrp] | 'sickle' |  |
| Luxembourgish | *St**ä**r* | [ʃtɛːɐ̯] | 'star' | Allophone of /eː/ before /ʀ/. See Luxembourgish phonology |
| Macedonian | Standard | м**е**д/m**e**d | [ˈmɛd̪] | 'honey' | See Macedonian language § Vowels |
| Malay | Standard | *pal**i**ng* | [pälɛŋ] | 'most' | Possible realisation of /i/ and /e/ in closed final syllables. See Malay phonology |
| Negeri Sembilan | *cep**a**t* | [cɔpɛʔ] | 'quick' | See Negeri Sembilan Malay |
| *karp**e**t* | [käpɛʔ] | 'carpet' |
| Kelatan-Pattani | *ay**am | [äjɛː] | 'chicken' | See Kelatan-Pattani |
| Terengganu | *b**ia**sa* | [bɛsə] | 'normal' | See Terengganu Malay |
| Perak | *mat**a | [matɛ] | 'eye' | See Perak Malay |
| *k**e**ro* | [kɛro̞] | 'crab' |
| Norman | Jersey | affaûrd**er** | [afɔrˈdɛ] | 'to afford' |  |
| Norwegian | Sognamål | *p**e**st* | [pʰɛst] | 'plague' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Occitan | *gr**è**ga* | [ˈɣɾɛɣɔ] | 'Greek' | See Occitan phonology |
| Polish | *t**e**n* | [t̪ɛn̪] | 'this one' (nom. m.) | See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Most dialects | *p**é | [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. |
| Some speakers | *t**em**po* | [ˈt̪ɛ̃mpu] | 'time' | Timbre differences for nasalized vowels are mainly kept in European Portuguese. See Portuguese phonology |
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects | *v**e**de* | [ˈvɛɟe] | '(he) sees' | Corresponds to mid [e̞] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | **э**то/**e**to | [ˈɛt̪ə] | 'this' | See Russian phonology |
| Shiwiar |  |  |  | Allophone of /a/. |
| Slovene | *m**e**t* | [mɛ́t] | 'throw' (n.) | See Slovene phonology |
| Spanish | Eastern Andalusian | *las madr**e**s* | [læ̞ː ˈmæ̞ːð̞ɾɛː] | 'the mothers' | Corresponds to [e̞] in other dialects, but in these dialects they are distinct. See Spanish phonology |
| Murcian |
| Swahili | shul**e** | [ʃulɛ] | 'school' |  |
| Swedish | Central Standard | ä**t* | [ɛ̠ːt̪] | 'eat' (imp.) | Somewhat retracted. See Swedish phonology |
| Tagalog | *p**e**k**e | [ˈpɛxɛʔ] | 'fake' | See Tagalog phonology |
| Telugu | **చే**ప | [tʃɛːa] | 'Fish' |
| **మే**క | [mɛːka] | 'Goat' |
| Thai | **แ**ตร / *tr**ae | [trɛː˧] | 'horn (instrument)' |  |
| Turkish | *ülk**e | [y̠l̠ˈkɛ] | 'country' | Allophone of /e/ described variously as "word-final" and "occurring in final open syllable of a phrase". See Turkish phonology |
| Ukrainian | д**е**нь/d**e**n' | [dɛnʲ] | 'day' | See Ukrainian phonology |
| Upper Sorbian | *č**e**lo* | [ˈt͡ʃɛlɔ] | 'calf' |  |
| Welsh | n**e**saf | [nɛsav] | 'next' | See Welsh phonology |
| West Frisian | *b**e**ppe* | [ˈbɛpə] | 'grandma' | See West Frisian phonology |
| Yoruba | ẹ**s**ẹ̀ | [ɛ̄sɛ] | 'leg' |  |