Languages may or may not allow words that consist of a single phoneme. Of those that do, these are generally vowels that serve as function words (grammar words, like prepositions and pronouns), such as English a and I; interjections, such as English ah! and sh!; or onomatopoeia, such as zzz... for sleeping. However, there are a smaller number of cases of content words that also consist of a single vowel sound. These are especially common in monosyllabic tonal languages such as those of East Asia. Words that consist of a single consonant sound are rarer.
This is a list of content words in various languages that comprise a single sound, in the sense that they can be written with a single letter of the International Phonetic Alphabet not counting diacritics, and that stand on their own. Only national or official languages with more than ten million speakers are included.
Notes:
Contents |
| Sound (IPA) |
Written form |
Meaning | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | 唖 | muteness | Japanese | obscure |
| /aː/ | aa | stream, river | Dutch | rare |
| /aː/ | आ, آ | come on! | Hindi,[1] Persian[2] | used with younger than ego |
| /ɐ̃ː/ | ả | big sister | Vietnamese | dialectical |
| /ɑ̃/ | an | year | French | |
| /e/ | 柄 | handle, stem | Japanese | |
| /eꜜ/ | 絵 餌 |
1. painting, drawing 2. feed, bait |
Japanese | |
| /ē/ | ê | to be numb, ashamed | Vietnamese | |
| /ê/ | ề | let's go! | Vietnamese | |
| /ě/ | ế | not saleable, unmarried | Vietnamese | |
| /eː/ | air ere eyre heir |
English | Australian and Irish accents (hay, hair, hare as well in h-dropping accents) |
|
| /ɛ/ | haie ais |
hedge plank |
French | |
| /ɛ̄/ | e | to be afraid | Vietnamese | |
| /ɛː/ | 애 | child | Korean | |
| /ɝː/ | err | to make a mistake | English | |
| /ɤ́/ | ē | to defecate and urinate | Mandarin | colloquial |
| /ɤ̌/ | é | 1. chant a poem 2. a goose 3. a moth 4. to blackmail; erroneous |
Mandarin | |
| /ɤ̂/ | è | 1. hungry, to starve 2. evil; fierce; to dislike 3. to hiccup 4. to grip, control 5. harness 6. palate 7. fish hawk 8. calyx |
Mandarin | |
| /ɤ̄ː/ | ơ | clay pot, be indifferent | Vietnamese | |
| /ɤ̃ː/ | ở | to reside, to stay | Vietnamese | |
| /ɤ̂ˀː/ | ợ | to belch | Vietnamese | |
| /i/ | hie y |
hie (tool) there, to it |
French | |
| /i/ | 胃 | stomach | Japanese | Also 'boar' below. |
| /i/ | 이 | 1. tooth 2. louse 3. two 4. cog |
Korean | (Sino-Korean) |
| /iꜜ/ | 偉 意 医 井 亥 寝 藺 |
1. greatness 2. feelings, meaning 3. medicine 4. a well 5. boar 6. sleep 7. a rush |
Japanese | 'boar' is /iꜜ/ or /i/. |
| /î/ | yì | 1. a unit of weight 2. a line in a dancing group 3. meaning |
Mandarin | |
| /î/ | ì | be inert, sluggish | Vietnamese | |
| /îˀ/ | ị | defecate | Vietnamese | |
| /ī/ | y | to conform | Vietnamese | |
| /ĩ/ | ỷ | to depend on, Idesia, niche for ancestral tablets | Vietnamese | |
| /ǐ/ | ý | an idea, intention, circumspection | Vietnamese | |
| /o/ | eau haut os |
water high bones (pl) |
French | |
| /oꜜ/ | 尾 雄 緒 |
1. tail, ridge 2. a male 3. cord, thread |
Japanese | |
| /ō/ | ô | suburb, betel box, umbrella, square | Vietnamese | |
| /ô/ | ồ | to rush | Vietnamese | |
| /õ/ | ổ | nest, bed | Vietnamese | |
| /ǒ/ | ố | spotted, dirty | Vietnamese | |
| /oː/ | ó | old | Hungarian[3] | used mostly in compounds |
| /oː/ | 오 | five | Korean | (Sino-Korean) |
| /oː/ | å | stream | Swedish | |
| /oː/ | owe | English | Irish accent | |
| /ø/ | œufs | eggs | French | |
| /øː/ | ö | isle | Swedish | |
| /øː/ | 외 | outside | Korean | pronounced [weː] by many |
| /øː/ | öö | night | Estonian | |
| /øˀ/ | ø | island | Danish | |
| /ɔˀ/ | å | (small) river | Danish | |
| /ɔ̄/ | o | to flirt, paternal aunt/young girl, pork larynx | Vietnamese | |
| /ɔ̌/ | ó | eagle | Vietnamese | |
| /ɔː/ | awe haw haw haw hoar whore oar ore ore |
fearful respect hawthorn berry nictitating membrane for a horse to turn to the left greyish prostitute paddle metal-bearing mineral seaweed |
English | h- words in aitch-dropping accents, -r words in non-rhotic accents |
| /œ̃/ | un | one | French | |
| /u/ | août houe houx |
August hoe holly |
French | août is also pronounced /ut/ |
| /u/ | 우 | 1. suddenly 2. top |
Korean | top is pronounced /u/ in North Korea |
| /u/ | 兎 | The Hare, in the Chinese zodiac | Japanese | |
| /uꜜ/ | 鵜 得 有 |
1. cormorant 2. get, obtain 3. bhava |
Japanese | (2) is an inflection of eru |
| /ú/ | wū | 1. house, room 2. filth, filthy, to defile 3. tungsten 4. a crow, black 5. shaman, wizard |
Mandarin | |
| /ǔ/ | wú | 1. there is not; nothing | Mandarin | |
| /ù/ | wǔ | 1. five 2. a dance, to dance, to flourish 3. to seal, to muffle 4.martial, valiant 5. ranks |
Mandarin | |
| /û/ | wù | 1. a thing, matter 2. mist, fog 3. an error, to miss, to harm 4. to realize 5. business, to strive for, to devote 6. to hate 7. to meet face to face 8. to warm up |
Mandarin | |
| /ū/ | u | mother, swollen, tumour, to swell | Vietnamese | |
| /û/ | ù | quickly | Vietnamese | |
| /ũ/ | ủ | to keep covered for warmth, sullen | Vietnamese | |
| /ûˀ/ | ụ | a mound, basin | Vietnamese | |
| /ɯ̌/ | ứ | to climb, to accumulate, to exude | Vietnamese | |
| /y/ | eu, eue | had | French | past participle of avoir (have) |
| /y/ | 위 | top | Korean | pronounced [wi] by many |
| /ý/ | yū | 1. doctrinaire, abstruse 2. silt, to silt up |
Mandarin | |
| /y̌/ | yú | 1. a fish 2. the surplus 3. foolish 4. yu (a wind instrument) 5. to catch fish, usurp 6. to exceed 7. nook |
Mandarin | |
| /ỳ/ | yǔ | 1. to give, support 2. rain 3. language 4. feather, wing |
Mandarin | |
| /ŷ/ | yù | 1. to encounter, to treat; treatment 2. wish, desire 3. prison, lawsuit 4. recover 5. jade 6. residence; to reside 7. ravine 8. reputation; to praise 9. give birth to, raise 10. to drive a vehicle, to ward off; imperial 11. in advance; to get ready 12. taro 13. region 14. sandpiper |
Mandarin |
Single consonants are much less common as words. Slavic languages have consonantal prepositions, such as Russian к /k/ 'to', с /s/ 'with', and в /v/ 'in', but these cannot stand on their own and so are not phonetic words.
| Sound | Written form | Meaning | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| m̏ | 唔 嘸 |
1. not; to hold in the mouth 2. unclear |
Cantonese | |
| ŋ̏ | 吾 梧 蜈 鼯 鋘 |
1. I, us 2. Firmiana simplex; support 3. centipede 4. giant flying squirrel 5. sword |
Cantonese | |
| ŋ̗ | 五 午 啎, 忤 伍 |
1. five 2. noon 3. disobedient 5. army; associate with |
Cantonese | |
| ŋ̀ | 誤 寤 晤 悟 |
1. err, error, interfere 2. scarce 3. interview, meet 4. realize |
Cantonese |