Standard Lemma guide

monophthong

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • UK: /ˈmɒnəfˌθɒŋ(ɡ)/
  • UK:
  • US: /ˈmɑnəfˌθɔŋ/
  • US:
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈmɑnəfˌθɑŋ/
  • cot-caught-merger, proscribed: /ˈmɑnəpˌθɑŋ/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A vowel (in the sense of a sound rather than a letter of the alphabet) that has the same sound throughout its pronunciation, such as the short vowels in "pap", "pep", "pip", "pop" and "pup", as opposed to a diphthong (eg, /aɪ/, the vowel in "pipe") or a triphthong (eg, /aɪə/, the sound in the non-rhotic pronunciation of "pyre").

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μονόφθογγος (monóphthongos), from μόνος (mónos, “single”) + φθόγγος (phthóngos, “sound”).

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Armenian: մենաբարբառ (menabarbaṙ) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Belarusian: манафто́нг (manaftónh) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Breton: monoftongenn — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Bulgarian: монофто́нг (monoftóng) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Chinese Mandarin: 單元音 /单元音 (dānyuányīn) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Danish: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Danish: enkeltlyd — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Dutch: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Faroese: einljóð — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Finnish: yksinäisvokaali — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Finnish: monoftongi — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • French: monophtongue — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • German: Monophthong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Ancient Greek: μονόφθογγος (monóphthongos) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Hungarian: monoftongus — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Hungarian: egyeshangzó — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Icelandic: einhljóð — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Irish: aonfhoghar — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Italian: monottongo — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Japanese: 単母音 (tanboin) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Korean: 단모음 (danmo'eum) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Latin: monophthongus — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Limburgish: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Macedonian: монофтонг (monoftong) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Norwegian: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Persian: واکهٔ ساده (vâke-ye sâde) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Polish: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Portuguese: monotongo — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Romanian: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Russian: монофто́нг (monoftóng) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Swedish: monoftong — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Ukrainian: монофто́нг (monoftónh) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Vietnamese: nguyên âm đơn — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Welsh: unsain — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation
  • Yiddish: מאָנאָפֿטאָנג (monoftong) — vowel that has same sound throughout its pronunciation