# cardinal vowel

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. a vowel sound produced when the tongue is in an extreme position, either front or back, high or low.

## Etymology
The term was coined by the British phoneticians Daniel Jones in the early 20th century.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/cardinal-vowel