Ea (digraph)

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ea is a vowel digraph used in many languages.

In English, ea usually represents the diphthong /ɪə/ or monophthong /i/ (depending on accent) as in meat and bead. Due to a sound change that happened in Middle English, it can also represent the vowel /ɛ/ as in lead and spread, and the vowel /eɪ/ (or /e/) in just three words - break, great, and steak. When followed by r, it can represent the standard outcomes of the previously mentioned three vowels in this environment - /ɪə(ɹ)/ as in "fear", /ɜ(ɹ)/ as in "earth", and /ɛə(ɹ)/ as in "bear", respectively - and as another rare exception, also /ɑ(ɹ)/ in the words heart and hearth.

ea (e͡a) is also the transliteration of the ᛠ rune of the Anglo-Frisian Futhorc.

v • d • e Latin alphabet
Digraphs	Aa aa Ae ae Ai ai Au au Aw aw Ay ay Bh bh Ch ch Ck ck Cö cö Cs cs Cu cu Cz cz Dd dd Dh dh Dj dj Dx dx Dz dz Dž dž Dź dź Dż dż Ea ea Ee ee Ei ei Eu eu Ew ew Ey ey Ff ff Fh fh Gb gb Gh gh Għ għ Gi gi Gj gj Gn gn Gy gy Hs hs Hu hu Ie ie IJ ij Jö jö Kh kh Kp kp Ku ku Lh lh Lj lj Ll ll Ly ly Mb mb Mh mh Mp mp Nd nd Ng ng Nh nh Nj nj Nk nk Ns ns Nt nt Ny ny Nz nz Oa oa Oe oe Oi oi Oo oo Ou ou Ow ow Oy oy Ph ph Qu qu Rd rd Rh rh Rl rl Rn rn Rr rr Rt rt Rz rz Sh sh Sv sv Sy sy Sz sz Th th Tj tj Tr tr Ts ts Tx tx Ty ty Tz tz Ue ue Ui ui Vh vh Wh wh Xh xh Xö xö Yh yh Yk yk Zh zh Zs zs Zv zv
Trigraphs	C'h c'h Dzs dzs Eau eau Ngb ngb Ngh ngh Ngk ngk Nkp nkp Nth nth Nyk nyk Rnd rnd Sch sch
Tetragraphs	Eeuw eeuw Ieuw ieuw Ough ough