Glossary: schwa

The name of a vowel sound that is found only in unstressed positions in English. It is the most common vowel sound in English.

It is written as /ə/ in the International Phonetic Alphabet. In the English writing system, it can be written in many different ways.

• /əlɒŋ/ [along]
• /bʌtə/ [butter]
• /dɒktə/ [doctor]