Back to all sounds
Vowel

Long A

The vowel sound heard in words like "say", "make", "rain", and "eight". It's a diphthong, meaning it's a combination of two vowel sounds: it starts with a sound similar to the 'e' in "bet" (/ɛ/ or a slightly higher /e/) and glides towards the 'ee' sound in "see" (/i/ or /ɪ/).

ā
Phonetic System (Merriam-Webster):ā

Watch the Sound

Click the video to watch in fullscreen mode

Example Words

Main Example

say
Phonetic: seɪ

Common Words

sayseɪ
makemeɪk
rainreɪn
playpleɪ
eighteɪt
greatgreɪt
waitweɪt
lateleɪt
facefeɪs
nameneɪm

Minimal Pairs

Listen and compare similar sounds

ā
wait
weɪt
Compare with
W
wet
wɛt
ā
late
leɪt
Compare with
L
let
lɛt
ā
pain
peɪn
Compare with
P
pen
pɛn
ā
main
meɪn
Compare with
M
man
mæn

Tongue Twister

Kate baked eight great gray cakes.

Try it yourself

Practice saying this tongue twister

Technical Details

  • CategoryVowel
  • VoicingVoiced
  • Place of ArticulationFront (Mid)
  • Manner of ArticulationVowel (Diphthong)
  • Mouth PositionStart with the jaw mid-open and the tongue mid-high and towards the front of the mouth. Then, glide the tongue slightly higher and forward while the jaw closes slightly. The lips start relatively neutral or slightly spread and become more neutral or slightly retracted as the sound finishes.