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Glite Dictionary
rounded vowel

rounded vowel

7.7
A vowel sound made with the lips pushed forward into a small circle
  • noun
  • /ˈraʊndɪd ˈvaʊəl/
  • Specialized
translation icon : vocal redondeada
  • Learning to pronounce rounded vowels can greatly improve your accent in foreign languages.

Examples

  • The teacher explained that rounded vowels require the lips to be shaped into a circle while speaking.

  • This included not only rounded vowels but also clusters containing /p/, /?/, and/or /w/ (all of which should have similar acoustic effects on /s/ spectra).

    Academic text (2013)

  • In English, the word 'goose' has a rounded vowel sound in its pronunciation.

Antonyms

unrounded vowel
  • Specialized
7.8

A vowel sound you make with the lips relaxed or pulled back

How Rounded

rounded vowel
  • Specialized
7.7
unrounded vowel
  • Specialized
7.8

Surface Forms

rounded vowel singular
rounded vowels plural

Morphology

round + vowel

The definition 'a vowel produced with the lips rounded' is directly derivable from combining 'rounded' (having lip rounding) with 'vowel' (a voiced speech sound). This adjective + noun composition follows standard English morphology and has clear cross‑linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should understand it.

Etymology

Rounded vowel The term rounded vowel comes from how you make the sound: you push your lips forward into a small round 'O' shape when saying the vowel. So the name rounded explains why the sound is different.