how to pronounce schwa

/ʃwɑː/

audio example by a male speaker

audio example by a female speaker

the above transcription of schwa is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.

schwa is pronounced in one syllable

press buttons with phonetic symbols to learn how to precisely pronounce each sound of schwa

1.

ɑː

example pitch curve for pronunciation of schwa

test your pronunciation of schwa

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video examples of schwa pronunciation

An example use of schwa in a speech by a native speaker of british english:

“… instead marsha had the schwa de vivre …”

meanings of schwa

noun:

The character ə.
An indeterminate central vowel sound as the "a" in "about", represented as /ə/ in IPA.

schwa frequency in english - C2+ level of CEFR

the word schwa occurs in english on average 0.1 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for C2+ level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.