Triphthong Facts for Kids

A triphthong is a special kind of vowel sound that has three parts. Imagine your mouth moving smoothly from one vowel sound, through a second, and then to a third, all within one syllable. It's like a mini-journey for your tongue and lips!

Think of it this way:

A "pure" vowel, called a monophthong, has just one sound (like the 'a' in "cat").
A diphthong has two vowel sounds that blend together (like the 'oy' in "boy").
A triphthong has three vowel sounds blending together.

It's important not to mix up triphthongs with two separate syllables. For example, in German, the word Feuer (meaning 'fire') sounds like "foy-er." This is two syllables, not a triphthong, because the last vowel sound is longer and separate.

Triphthong Examples
- Sounds Starting with the Main Vowel
- Sounds with the Middle Vowel as the Main Part
  - Spanish Triphthongs
See also

Triphthong Examples

Triphthongs are found in different languages around the world. Sometimes, sounds that seem like they could be triphthongs are actually treated as a vowel and a consonant by language experts. This happens when the sounds act more like consonants in how the language works.

Sounds Starting with the Main Vowel

In some languages, the main, strongest part of the triphthong is the very first sound you make.

Bernese German Triphthongs

Bernese German is a dialect spoken in Switzerland. It has some cool triphthongs:

[iə̯u̯] as in Gieu (meaning 'boy')
[yə̯u̯] as in Gfüeu (meaning 'feeling')
[uə̯u̯] as in Schueu (meaning 'school')

These sounds often happen because an 'l' sound at the end of a syllable changes into a vowel sound. For example, Gfüeu is related to the German word Gefühl, which also means 'feeling'.

Danish Triphthongs

The Danish language also uses triphthongs:

[ɛɐ̯u̯] as in færge (meaning 'ferry')
[iɐ̯u̯] as in hvirvle (meaning 'to whirl')
[œ̞ɐ̯u̯] as in Børge (a common name)
[uɐ̯u̯] as in spurv (meaning 'sparrow')

English Triphthongs

In British English, especially in what's called Received Pronunciation (a standard way of speaking), you can find triphthongs. These are often words that used to have an 'r' sound at the end, but now the 'r' isn't pronounced.

Here are some examples:

[aʊ̯ə̯] as in flour. This is different from "flower" ([aʊ̯.ə]), which has two syllables.
[aɪ̯ə̯] as in byre (a cow shed). This is different from "buyer" ([aɪ̯.ə]), which has two syllables.
[ɔɪ̯ə̯] as in coir (a type of fiber). This is different from "coyer" ([ɔɪ̯.ə]), which has two syllables.

Sometimes, words ending in "-er" like player or lower might sound like they have a triphthong, but they are usually two syllables.

Sounds with the Middle Vowel as the Main Part

In other languages, the strongest part of the triphthong is the middle sound.

Spanish Triphthongs

The Spanish language has some interesting triphthongs:

[u̯ei̯] as in buey (meaning 'ox')
[u̯ai̯] as in Uruguay (the country)
[i̯ai̯] as in cambiáis (meaning 'you [plural, informal] change')
[i̯ei̯] as in cambiéis (meaning 'that you [plural, informal] may change')

The last two examples, cambiáis and cambiéis, are mostly heard in European Spanish. In Latin American Spanish, people usually say cambian or cambien instead, which are different sounds.

Triphthong facts for kids

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