In phonetics, the schwa symbol (notated with an ə) represents the “uh” sound, which is noteworthy for several reasons: it is the most common vowel sound in English, the most relaxed sound our mouths can make, and can be represented by any vowel letter. The term was first used in a 1895 comparative philology textbook, borrowed from German, which in turn borrowed it from Hebrew sheva, denoting a diacritic indicating the absence of a following vowel sound (Jewish grammarians did not consider schwa a vowel due to its neutral qualities). The origin of sheva can be traced back to “emptiness” and may have roots in the Aramaic word swaya, meaning “equal” or “even”.
