Central vowel

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v • d • e Vowels [ e• d• enlarge] Front Near-front Central Near-back Back Close i · y ɨ · ʉ ɯ · u ɪ  · ʏ   ʊ e · ø ɘ · ɵ ɤ · o ə ɛ · œ ɜ · ɞ ʌ · ɔ æ ɐ a · ɶ ɑ · ɒ Near‑close Close‑mid Mid Open‑mid Near‑open Open Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a rounded vowel. See also IPA · Consonants (template)

A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. The central vowels identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

• close central unrounded vowel [ɨ]
• close central rounded vowel [ʉ]
• close-mid central unrounded vowel [ɘ]
• close-mid central rounded vowel [ɵ]
• mid central vowel [ə]
• open-mid central unrounded vowel [ɜ]
• open-mid central rounded vowel [ɞ]
• near-open central vowel [ɐ]
• open central unrounded vowel [a] (unofficial but most frequent usage)

Occasionally, the ad hoc symbols ᵻ, ᵿ (ɪ, ʊ) for near-close central vowels will be seen.