diphthong
UK/ˈdɪfˌθɒŋ(ɡ)//ˈdɪfˌθɔŋ/
diphthong noun: a complex vowel sound that begins with the sound of one vowel and ends with the sound of another vowel, in the same syllable.
Noun
diphthong (plural diphthongs)
- A complex vowel sound that begins with the sound of one vowel and ends with the sound of another vowel, in the same syllable.
- In Lang Belta vowels usually appear preceding or following a consonant (see previous examples), and as of now no occurrence of diphthongs or triphthongs has been attested.2021 October 5, Gessica Puccini, “Lang Belta: the Belter language from SYFY/Amazon’s The Expanse”, in Lingoblog
- Synonyms:
- gliding vowel
- A diaphoneme realized as a two-target vowel in some but not necessarily all dialects.
- A vowel digraph or ligature.
- And he might have written the name, also, with the diphthong æ, as well as the single vowel, in the initial syllable, throughout all the preceding forms.1854, Robert Bigsby, Historical and Topographical Description of Repton, in the County of Derby, Woodfall and Kinder, page 47
- An improper diphthong has only one of the vowels sounded; as, ea in heat, oa in coal.1860, Joseph E. Worcester, An Elementary Dictionary of the English Language, Swan, Brewer, and Tileston, page 12
diphthong meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
diphthong in Hindi
- complex vowel sound
- संध्यक्षर sandhyakṣar
diphthong in Tamil
- புணரொலி இணையுயிர், ஈருயிர், சந்தியக்கரம்
diphthong in Bengali
- complex vowel sound
- জটিল স্বরধ্বনি joṭil śśoroddhoni
diphthong in Malayalam
- complex vowel sound
- സംയുക്ത സ്വരം saṁyukta svaraṁ
More languagesFewer languages
- diphthong in Kannada
- ಸಂಧಿಸ್ವರ, ಅವಳಿಸ್ವರ, ಸ್ವರದ್ವಯ ಸಂಯೋಗ, ಸ್ವರೋಚ್ಚಾರ ಲೋಪ
- diphthong in Tagalog
- kambal-patinig, diptonggo
- diphthong in Arabic
- مُصَوِّت مُزْدَوِج muṣawwit muzdawij
- diphthong in Indonesian
- diftong, bunyi rangkap
- diphthong in Persian
- واکهٔ مرکب vâke-ye morakkab
- diphthong in Vietnamese
- nguyên âm đôi, nhị trùng âm
Synonyms of diphthong
Forms of diphthong
| plural | diphthongs |
|---|---|
| alternative form (obsolete) | dipthong |
Origin of diphthong
PIE word *dwóh₁ Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwi- Proto-Hellenic *dwi- Ancient Greek δι- (di-) Ancient Greek φθέγγομαι (phthéngomai) Ancient Greek φθόγγος (phthóngos) Ancient Greek δῐ́φθογγος (dĭ́phthongos)der. Latin diphthongusbor. French diphtongueder. English diphthong From French diphtongue, from Late Latin diphthongus, from Ancient Greek δίφθογγος (díphthongos, “two sounds”), from δίς (dís, “twice”) + φθόγγος (phthóngos, “sound”). Displaced native Old English twifeald swēġ, (literally, "twofold swey").
Words formed from diphthong
Questions about diphthong
- What does diphthong mean?
- Diphthong means a complex vowel sound that begins with the sound of one vowel and ends with the sound of another vowel, in the same syllable.
- What is diphthong in Hindi?
- Diphthong in Hindi is संध्यक्षर (sandhyakṣar). See Diphthong meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is diphthong?
- Diphthong is a noun.
- How do you pronounce diphthong?
- Diphthong is pronounced /ˈdɪfˌθɒŋ(ɡ)/ (UK).
- What is the plural of diphthong?
- The plural of diphthong is diphthongs.
Words near diphthong in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: diphthong (page history and authors); diphthong (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); diphthong (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-ca-diphthong.ogg, en-us-diphthong.ogg.
Cite this entry: “diphthong.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/diphthong. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.