Word.ws English Dictionary

R-coloured vowel

R-coloured vowel noun: a vowel modified so that the frequency of its third formant is lowered.

Noun

R-coloured vowel (plural R-coloured vowels)

  1. A vowel modified so that the frequency of its third formant is lowered.
    • [ɚ] is an R-coloured vowel; its non-rhotacised form is [ə].
    • Words such as start, better, and turn, for example, are likely to be pronounced with a lengthened vowel instead of the r-coloured vowel. While this type of substitution may simply sound like a quaint accent, it may also cause[…]2019 December 9, Graeme Ching, Teaching English: A Practical Guide for Language Teachers, Canadian Scholars, →ISBN, page 231

Synonyms of R-coloured vowel

Forms of R-coloured vowel

pluralR-coloured vowels
alternative formR-colored vowel

Questions about R-coloured vowel

What does R-coloured vowel mean?
R-coloured vowel means a vowel modified so that the frequency of its third formant is lowered.
What part of speech is R-coloured vowel?
R-coloured vowel is a noun.
What is the plural of R-coloured vowel?
The plural of R-coloured vowel is R-coloured vowels.

Words near R-coloured vowel in the dictionary

  1. r-bombs
  2. R-color
  3. R-colored vowel
  4. R-colored vowels
  5. R-colour
  6. R-coloured vowel
  7. R-coloured vowels
  8. R-CPD
  9. R-Day
  10. r-dropping
  11. R-EPOCH

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: R-coloured vowel (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-R-coloured vowel.ogg.

Cite this entry: “R-coloured vowel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/r-coloured_vowel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.