Many words have W for a vowel, such as awe, bow, cow, dew, ewe, few gew-gaw, hew, jaw, known, lawn, maw, now, owe, pew, raw, sew, tow, vow, wow and yawn.
However, in these cases, the W is only technically a vowel, because it contributes a vowel sound, as would the letter U, from which it originates. Some words, especially Welsh, use the W as the primary vowel, much as Y is used in English. One example is the word "cwm" (valley).
(see related question)
One word is "cwm", and another is "crwth".Cwm is a basin at the bottom of a mountain.Crwth is an ancient Celtic musical instrument.W as a vowel in WelshThe Welsh language uses "w" as a vowel with a sound somewhere between the "oo" in "book" and the "u" in "buck", so other words borrowed from Welsh may have obsolete spellings with "w" as a vowel.***By the way, the aforementioned word "crwth" can also be spelled "cruth" or "crowd".Other examples with "w" as a vowel appear in place-names. "Bwlch" means a pass or gap. "Pwll" means a pool or puddle or pit. The other two words are used in English and appear in dictionaries. These two primarily appear in specialized dictionaries, such as some geographical dictionaries. However, "bwlch" appears in the Oxford Rhyming Dictionary and, apparently, the game Balderdash.As a clear example of using "w" as a vowel in Welsh, the Welsh language spells "Russia" and "Sudan" as "Rwsia" and "Swdan".
"There are 2 consonants in sew, as 's' and 'w' are consonants and 'e' is a vowel. 'A' 'E' 'I' 'O' and 'U' are vowels, and every other letter in the English language is a consonant." Actually, the word "sew" has only one consonant: s. When the letter "w" ends a word after following a vowel (or in other places where it forms a "diphthong"), the "w" is technically a vowel.
W is a vowel sometimes, as is Y. There are words in Welsh that use only a W. An example would be the word tow. Without the W the O would not be long. This illustrates that the W is forming a diphthong, which mirrors the use of the letter U from which it developed. After a vowel, W is considered as a vowel, with an "au, oo, or oh" sound. Before a vowel it is considered a consonant, with its "wh" sound.
You cannot produce a non-utterance in spoken language with vowels. Since written language is a representation of the spoken language, you cannot have words without vowels.Technically, no. "y" in the examples like shy is a vowel (as it makes a vowel sound); just like in loan words such as Gwn (whereby Welsh uses "w" as a vowel). A vowel is not defined by the letter that represents it but rather by the sound that is produced
Y is considered as a semi-vowel. Like W.
How about the word "vowel" itself? Or the word "vow"?
'W' cannot be a vowel, the only interchangeable letter is 'y'. Here in the word 'two' 'w' is a silent consonant.
The Welsh word crwth, borrowed directly without Anglicised spelling, sometimes appears in English dictionaries. In proper English, w is a vowel only when combined with another vowel, as a diphthong such as how or in words like yawn.
The middle letter of the word "vowel" is "w."
not a vowel
No. Contrary to what some people say, "W" is never a vowel in the English language.
paraphernalia
'Wife' has a long vowel sound: w-eye-f.
Three: v, w, and l.
The word female uses long vowel sounds because you can hear the "e" sound when you say female.
Yes. The A is a long A sound, as in sale and pale. The E is silent.
The vowel O in owl is controlled by the following W, making the vowel neither short or long. It makes the sound OW, as in COW.