*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of vowel

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der. Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs Proto-Italic *wōks Latin vōx Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis L

2 source sectionsExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 2 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology · variant 1/2

Original entry ↗
verb

To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic).

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der. Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs Proto-Italic *wōks Latin vōx Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin vōcālis Old French voyeul Old French vouelbor. Middle English vowel English vowel From Middle English vowel, from Old French vouel, a variant of voyeul (whence French voyelle), from Latin vōcālis (“voiced”), itself a semantic loan of Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen). Doublet of vocal and vocalis.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "root",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*wekʷ-"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:vowel",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der.\nProto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs\nProto-Italic *wōks\nLatin vōx\nProto-Indo-European *h₂el-\nProto-Indo-European *-is\nProto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?\nProto-Italic *-ālis\nLatin -ālis\nLatin vōcālis\nOld French voyeul\nOld French vouelbor.\nMiddle English vowel\nEnglish vowel\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"gloss\" : \"a voice, sound, tone\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*wekʷ-\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*wṓkʷs\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*wōks\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"vōx\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\" }, { \"gloss\" : \"-al\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"is_uncertain\" : true, \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"alt\" : \"*h₂élis\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"grow\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*h₂el-\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" }, { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-is\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*-ālis\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"-ālis\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\", \"pos\" : \"adjective-forming derivational suffix\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"vōcālis\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"voyeul\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"keyword\" : \"from\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"vouel\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"vowel\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"vowel\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"vowel\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "vowel"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English vowel"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "vouel"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French vouel"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "voyelle"
      },
      "expansion": "French voyelle"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "vōcālis",
        "4": "",
        "5": "voiced"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin vōcālis (“voiced”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "noncog",
      "args": {
        "1": "grc-koi",
        "2": "φωνῆεν"
      },
      "expansion": "Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "vocal",
        "3": "vocalis"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of vocal and vocalis"
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:vowel",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der.\nProto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs\nProto-Italic *wōks\nLatin vōx\nProto-Indo-European *h₂el-\nProto-Indo-European *-is\nProto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?\nProto-Italic *-ālis\nLatin -ālis\nLatin vōcālis\nOld French voyeul\nOld French vouelbor.\nMiddle English vowel\nEnglish vowel"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*wekʷ-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wekʷ-"
    ],
    [
      "*wṓkʷs",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wṓkʷs"
    ],
    [
      "*wōks",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/wōks"
    ],
    [
      "vōx",
      "vox#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "*h₂el-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂el-#Proto-Indo-European:_grow"
    ],
    [
      "*-is",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-is"
    ],
    [
      "*-ālis",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/-ālis"
    ],
    [
      "-ālis",
      "-alis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "vōcālis",
      "vocalis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "voyeul",
      "voyeul#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "vouel",
      "vouel#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "vowel",
      "vowel#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "vowel",
      "vowel#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "vouel",
      "vouel#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "voyeul",
      "voyeul#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "voyelle",
      "voyelle#French"
    ],
    [
      "vōcālis",
      "vocalis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "semantic loan",
      "semantic loan"
    ],
    [
      "φωνῆεν",
      "φωνῆεν#Ancient_Greek"
    ],
    [
      "vocal",
      "vocal#English"
    ],
    [
      "vocalis",
      "vocalis#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "verb",
      "glosses": [
        "To add vowel points to a consonantal script (e.g. niqqud in Hebrew or harakat in Arabic)."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "8ba02bff18e9875a850b3e45ad4850e1c87af6fd7e3762dc88fec32f66da7da1",
      "rawRecordSha256": "a5b0b1bf1cd7bce9062093a3c6017d57055e25cd2e2f1c6e66a5520716fc96a9",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 16713
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Unnumbered source etymology · variant 2/2

Original entry ↗
noun

A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable. · A letter or diacritic representing the sound of a vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y (sometimes), and w (rarely).

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der. Proto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs Proto-Italic *wōks Latin vōx Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin vōcālis Old French voyeul Old French vouelbor. Middle English vowel English vowel From Middle English vowel, from Old French vouel, a variant of voyeul (whence French voyelle), from Latin vōcālis (“voiced”), itself a semantic loan of Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen). Doublet of vocal and vocalis.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

{
  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "root",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*wekʷ-"
      },
      "expansion": ""
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:vowel",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der.\nProto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs\nProto-Italic *wōks\nLatin vōx\nProto-Indo-European *h₂el-\nProto-Indo-European *-is\nProto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?\nProto-Italic *-ālis\nLatin -ālis\nLatin vōcālis\nOld French voyeul\nOld French vouelbor.\nMiddle English vowel\nEnglish vowel\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"gloss\" : \"a voice, sound, tone\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*wekʷ-\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*wṓkʷs\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*wōks\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"vōx\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\" }, { \"gloss\" : \"-al\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"keyword_abbrev\" : \"der.\", \"is_uncertain\" : true, \"keyword_label\" : \"Derived from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"alt\" : \"*h₂élis\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"grow\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*h₂el-\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" }, { \"children\" : [ ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-is\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"derived\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*-ālis\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"-ālis\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\", \"pos\" : \"adjective-forming derivational suffix\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"vōcālis\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"voyeul\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"keyword\" : \"from\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"vouel\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"vowel\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"vowel\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"vowel\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "vowel"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English vowel"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "vouel"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French vouel"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "fr",
        "2": "voyelle"
      },
      "expansion": "French voyelle"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "vōcālis",
        "4": "",
        "5": "voiced"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin vōcālis (“voiced”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "noncog",
      "args": {
        "1": "grc-koi",
        "2": "φωνῆεν"
      },
      "expansion": "Koine Greek φωνῆεν (phōnêen)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "vocal",
        "3": "vocalis"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of vocal and vocalis"
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:vowel",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *wekʷ-der.\nProto-Indo-European *wṓkʷs\nProto-Italic *wōks\nLatin vōx\nProto-Indo-European *h₂el-\nProto-Indo-European *-is\nProto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?\nProto-Italic *-ālis\nLatin -ālis\nLatin vōcālis\nOld French voyeul\nOld French vouelbor.\nMiddle English vowel\nEnglish vowel"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*wekʷ-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wekʷ-"
    ],
    [
      "*wṓkʷs",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/wṓkʷs"
    ],
    [
      "*wōks",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/wōks"
    ],
    [
      "vōx",
      "vox#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "*h₂el-",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂el-#Proto-Indo-European:_grow"
    ],
    [
      "*-is",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-is"
    ],
    [
      "*-ālis",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/-ālis"
    ],
    [
      "-ālis",
      "-alis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "vōcālis",
      "vocalis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "voyeul",
      "voyeul#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "vouel",
      "vouel#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "vowel",
      "vowel#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "vowel",
      "vowel#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "vouel",
      "vouel#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "voyeul",
      "voyeul#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "voyelle",
      "voyelle#French"
    ],
    [
      "vōcālis",
      "vocalis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "semantic loan",
      "semantic loan"
    ],
    [
      "φωνῆεν",
      "φωνῆεν#Ancient_Greek"
    ],
    [
      "vocal",
      "vocal#English"
    ],
    [
      "vocalis",
      "vocalis#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "Hawaiian",
      "lang_code": "haw",
      "word": "woela",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "lang": "Yoruba",
      "lang_code": "yo",
      "word": "fáwẹ̀lì",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A sound produced by the vocal cords with relatively little restriction of the oral cavity, forming the prominent sound of a syllable.",
        "A letter or diacritic representing the sound of a vowel; in English, the vowels are a, e, i, o, u, y (sometimes), and w (rarely)."
      ],
      "tags": [],
      "recordId": "fa9088d7acbde3297b0923d632761cb13004773a61bf01db0dbc4085d35818c5",
      "rawRecordSha256": "54a02c505f9c6658822d8ac9304a989f549df428b234d545d48ee0651c2858aa",
      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 16712
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
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    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 0,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for vowel →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-dm93ZWw