The open front rounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is &. The symbol is a small capital OE ligature.

Features

---

• Its vowel height is open, which means the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth.
• Its vowel backness is front, which means the tongue is positioned as far forward as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.
• Its vowel roundedness is rounded, which means that the lips are rounded.

Occurs in

---

is not confirmed to exist as a phoneme in any language. A phoneme generally transcribed by this symbol is reported from the Amstetten dialect of Bavarian German. It is the rounded equivalent of , not of open , and so would be more narrowly transcribed as :

• Austrian German(slang): Seil or , 'rope'
• Canadian French: Veux , 'I/You (singular) want'

However, the vowel formants place Amstetten and one third of the way between /a/ and /i/, matching the IPA definition for open-mid vowels.

Vowels

Gerundeter offener Vorderzungenvokal | Vocal abierta anterior redondeada | Voyelle basse antérieure arrondie | 円唇前舌広母音 | 전설 원순 저모음