long a

See also: longa

English

Noun

long a (plural long a's)

1. (phonics) The vowel sound in the words game and cake; /eɪ/. (The presence of a long vowel is often signaled in spelling by a silent e that follows it, as in the examples here, or by the fact that a subsequent consonant is single rather than doubled, as for example in gaming versus gamming).

   Antonym: short a

   Coordinate terms: long e, short e, long i, short i, long o, short o, long u, short u

2. (linguistics, especially UK) The vowel sound in the English words bath and castle when pronounced with an open back unrounded vowel (/ɑː/); associated with southern England accents.

   Synonym: broad a

   Antonyms: flat a, short a

Further reading

• vowel length § "Long" and "short" vowel letters in spelling and the classroom teaching of reading on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Anglo, Anglo-, Golan, Angol, anglo-, Logan, anglo, logan, along, NALGO