# schwa

> English word · Noun · IPA /ʃwɑ/

## Definitions
1. An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.
2. The name of the Latin script letter Ə/ə.

## Etymology
Borrowed from German Schwa, from Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shva, šəwā, “(mark indicating reduction or absence of a vowel)”), borrowed from Classical Syriac ܫ̈ܘܰܝܳܐ (š'wayyā, literally “even, equal”), in Syriac a term for a sign consisting of two vertical dots used to separate parts of a sentence. Doublet of shva.

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