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⟨ow⟩
⟨ow⟩ is a vowel digraph commonly found in English consisting of the letters O and W.
⟨owl⟩, ⟨owe⟩, ⟨owel⟩ and ⟨ower⟩ are dealt with separately.
Coding[edit | edit source]
Phoneme | Example words | Notes |
---|---|---|
ᴍᴏᴜᴛʜ vowel phoneme /aʊ/ | allow, bow (“incline”) brow, brown, browse, clown, cow, crowd, crown, down, drown, eyebrow, frown, Glasgow, how, now, powder, plow, row (“quarrel”), sow (“female pig”), town, vow, wow | |
ɢᴏᴀᴛ vowel phoneme /əʊ/ | arrow, below, blow, borrow, bow (“weapon”), crow, elbow, fellow, flow, follow, grow, grown, growth, know, low, narrow, own, shadow, show, slow, snow, sow (“plant seeds”), throw, tomorrow, tow, window, yellow | |
Either ᴍᴏᴜᴛʜ or ɢᴏᴀᴛ, depending on accent | Moscow | |
ʟᴏᴛ vowel phoneme | knowledge /ˈnɒlɪdʒ/, knowledgeable /ˈnɒlɪdʒəbəl/ | |
ɢᴏᴏꜱᴇ vowel phoneme /uː/ | Cowper (variant of Cooper). | Rare |
Minimal pairs[edit | edit source]
/aʊ/ vs. /əʊ/: clown, clone; drown, drone; now, know/no; town, tone
One extra consonant with /aʊ/: how, house; owl, foul; cow, couch;
One extra consonant with /əʊ/: blow, bloke, bloat; glow, globe; flow, float;
Heteronyms[edit | edit source]
There are some heteronyms with this spelling, including:
- bow: /baʊ/ inclination, /bəʊ/ weapon;
- row: /raʊ/ quarrel, /rəʊ/ line;
Two sounds in one concept[edit | edit source]
- /əʊ/-/aʊ/: burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia)
These words don’t rhyme[edit | edit source]
/aʊ/ vs. /əʊ/: cow, low; now, know; owl, bowl; allow, below; flower, slower; frown, grown
One extra letter changes the vowel[edit | edit source]
- /aʊ/ then /əʊ/: owl, bowl; now, know, snow;
- /əʊ/ then /aʊ/: crow, crowd, crown;
Proper names[edit | edit source]
- /əʊ/: David Bowie, J.K. Rowling
- The name Cowper is pronounced like Cooper /ku:pə(r)/.
Spanish L1[edit | edit source]
Spanish speakers are notorious bad listeners. They will often pronounce /əʊ/ instead of /aʊ/. Even the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language suggested the spelling "clon" for “clown,”[1] when it should have been "claun".