schwa /ʃwɑː/ BrE AmE noun [countable] technical
[ Date: 1800-1900 ; Language: German ; Origin: Hebrew shewa ]
1 . a vowel typically heard in parts of a word that are spoken without ↑ stress 1 (4), such as the ‘a’ in ‘about’
2 . the sign (ə), used to represent the vowel schwa