In phonetics, a triphthong (Greek τρίφθογγος, "triphthongos", literally "with three sounds," or "with three tones") is a monosyllabic vowel combination usually involving a quick but smooth movement from one vowel to another that passes over a third one. While "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, are said to have one target tongue position, triphthongs have a moving tongue. Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of the sounds of human speech. ... A syllable (Ancient Greek: ) is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... Glissando (plural: glissandi) is a musical term that refers to either a continuous sliding from one pitch to another (a true glissando), or an incidental scale played while moving from one melodic note to another (an effective glissando). ... A monophthong (in Greek μονόφθογγος = single note) is a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation; compare diphthong. ...

Examples

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the first element in Bernese German (a Swiss German dialect) and in Latvian: Bernese German is the dialect of High Alemannic German spoken in the Swiss plateau (Mittelland) part of the canton of Bern and in some neighbouring regions. ... Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch) is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. ...

• [iə̯w] as in Gieu 'boy'
• [yə̯w] as in Gfüeu 'feeling'
• [uə̯w] as in Schueu 'school'
• [yə̯j] as in Müej 'trouble'

In Latvian:

• [iea] as in tie ['tiea] 'they'
• [uoa] as in ko ['kuoa] 'what'

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the second element in Spanish:

• [wej] as in buey 'ox'
• [waj] as in Uruguay

and in Standard Mandarin Chinese: Standard Mandarin, also known as Standard Chinese, Modern Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese, is the official modern Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ...

• [waj] as in 快 kuài 'fast'
• [wej] as in 回 huéi (pinyin spelling: huì) 'return'
• [iaw] as in 票 piào 'ticket'
• [iow] as in 六 liòu (pinyin spelling: liù) 'six'

Monosyllabic triphthongs stressed on the third element in Romanian (semivocalic phonemes marked with reversed circumflex accents): Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ... Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

• [e̯o̯a] as in pleoape 'eyelids'
• [jo̯a] as in creioane 'pencils'

The following British Received Pronunciation vowel sequences are sometimes analyzed as triphthongs stressed on the first element (they are also analyzed as disyllabic sequences of a diphthong and a monophthong): Note: This page or section contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ...

• [aʊ̯ə] as in hour
• [aɪ̯ə] as in fire
• [eɪ̯ə] as in player
• [ɔɪ̯ə] as in loyal, royal
• [əʊ̯ə] as in lower

See also

• List of phonetics topics
• Diphthong