— vowelless , adj. — vowellike , adj. — vowely, vowelly , adv.
/vow"euhl/ , n.
1. Phonet.
a. (in English articulation) a speech sound produced without occluding, diverting, or obstructing the flow of air from the lungs (opposed to consonant ).
b. (in a syllable) the sound of greatest sonority, as i in grill. Cf. consonant (def. 1b).
c. (in linguistic function) a concept empirically determined as a phonological element in structural contrast with consonant, as the /ee/ of be /bee/ , we /wee/ , and yeast /yeest/ .
2. a letter representing or usually representing a vowel, as, in English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w and y.
adj.
3. of or pertaining to a vowel.
[ 1275-1325; ME vowel vocalis VOCAL ]