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Glite Dictionary
diphthong

diphthong

3 8.4
A vowel sound that moves from one vowel to another in the same syllable
  • noun
  • /ˈdɪfθɔŋ/
  • Specialized
: diptongo
  • In the word "coin", the vowel sound is a diphthong because it combines the sounds of 'o' and 'i'.
  • vowels and diphthongs
  • diphthong reduction

The EA represents A diphthong that started with AA and glided to ah.

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Examples

  • Fowler told her that the tribe's language was remarkably clean of diphthongs.

    Academic text (2007)

  • She would put diphthong symbols on Doctor Seuss books, or when I was reading to my children I could practice.

  • So instead of an ow diphthong, it kind of starts in that place and really stays there.

  • Sometimes this smoothing is when you take a diphthong like ow and smooth it out so it's just one sound.

    WIRED

  • Most of those diphthongs are pronounced pretty much the same in British and American English, except for the O as in no.

  • The EA represents A diphthong that started with AA and glided to ah.

    MIT OpenCourseWare

  • Words that already had this high U often became diphthongs with two vowels in a single syllable.

  • She seems to have such nicely rounded diphthongs.

    Oscar (1991)

  • A speech therapist told Jenna that, although Amanda Jane's consonants lagged, her vowels and diphthongs were on the money.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • We observed Maggie teaching students about diphthongs, segmenting syllables, and decoding prefixes because she knew from CORE Phonics Survey data that they lacked these skills.

    Academic text (2014)

How Diphthongal

diphthong
  • Specialized
3 8.4
monophthong
  • Specialized
9.5

Surface Forms

diphthong singular
diphthongs plural

Etymology

Diphthong comes from Greek parts di- ('two') and phthongos ('sound'), so it literally means 'two sounds'. A helpful way to remember it is to think of one vowel that moves between two sounds in the same syllable, like the 'oi' in 'coin'.