# Cwm, W = vowel. What about the Y?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 10, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683 "2001-10-10T23:27:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/1 "2001-10-10T23:27:00Z")

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We’ve all heard of A, E, I, O, U, but I remember my teachers saying “And sometimes “Y””. Can anyone give me examples of words with no regular vowels other than the Y?  
And other than cwm, anyone know other words like it?

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/2 "2001-10-10T23:36:07Z")

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Are you kidding? Try cry, why, or by.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/3 "2001-10-10T23:42:08Z")

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dry, fly, my, pry, sty.

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**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/4 "2001-10-10T23:43:42Z")

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Several Welsh borrowings have “w” as a vowel. “Cwlwm” (A Celtic knot) is another example. I thing Crwm is a word too. In English, ‘w’ is regarded as a semi-vowel, and in fact, if you speak with saying “oo” instead of “w”, it’s hard to tell the difference. oo-ord vs. word.

Also ‘w’ is called “double-u” because it was originally a ligation of uu, I think, and ‘u’ is of course a vowel.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/5 "2001-10-10T23:55:03Z")

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[Here’s](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_246.html) Cecil’s take on the use of “w” as a vowel. As Cecil says, “cwm” is not what linguists have in mind when they say w can be used as a vowel.

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**Author:** ![d12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/71c47a/32.png) [@d12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d12)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/6 "2001-10-11T00:35:17Z")

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I agree that it shouldn’t entirely be a vowel (those words are Welsh) but they ARE listed in some Oxford English Dictionaries.

(Sorry about being stupid about the Y words… I can’t think )

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**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2001, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cwm-w-vowel-what-about-the-y/86683/7 "2001-10-11T04:29:32Z")

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My favorite y word is ‘rhythm’