Most languages of the world allow syllables without consonants, and monosyllabic words may therefore consist of a single vowel. Examples in English are a, O, I, eye (all of which are diphthongs: /eɪ, oʊ, aɪ/). A smaller number of languages allow sequences of such syllables, and thus may have polysyllabic words without consonants. This list excludes monosyllables (see instead List of words that comprise a single sound) and words such as English whoa and yeah which contain the semivowels y and w.
English has very few words of more than one syllable without a consonant, apart from proper names such as Aeaea, Aiea, Aia, Io, Eiao, Oea, and sometimes Iowa (below), and perhaps a few taxonomic terms such as Iouea below.
The maned sloth, or ai, is pronounced with two syllables: /ˈɑː.i/.
Aa, a type of lava, is spelled without consonants, but is pronounced with a glottal stop, which is marginal in English: /ˈɑːʔɑː/.
The aye-aye, a type of lemur: /ˈaɪ.aɪ/
Euouae, a musical cadence taken from the vowels in the hymn Gloria Patri doxology: "seculorum Amen", is the longest English word spelled without any consonant letters; it is also the English word with the most consecutive vowels. However, it is also pronounced with an initial consonant: /juː.ˈoʊ.iː/. Euoi, an interjection expressing Bacchic frenzy, is similar.
Iouea, /aɪjuːˈiː.ə/, or without consonant pronunciation, /aɪ.oʊˈiː.ə/.
Esperanto has a limited number of words with vowel sequences, such as boao 'boa'. Almost all have consonants, apart from the indefinite correlatives ('some-' words) and mimesis.
ia some (kind of)
iai to hee-haw
iao a hee-haw
ie somewhere, anywhere
iea of somewhere or other
io something
ioa of something or other
iu someone
iua of someone or other
ai [ɑi] "ow"
au [ɑu] "honor"
äi [æi] "father-in-law"
ei [ei] "no"
oi [oi] "oh"
öö [øː] "night"
õu [ɤu] "yard" or "garden"
Several words contain no consonants in certain grammatical cases like the Accusative and Genitive case, for example:
aed "garden" - aia [ɑiɑ]
agu "early dawn" - ao [ɑo]
iga "age" - ea [eɑ]
õde "sister" - õe [ɤe]
õis "bloom" - õie [ɤie]
uba "bean" - oa [oɑ]
uus "new" - uue [uːe]
yö night (y is always a vowel in Finnish)
aie intention
yöaie nocturnal intention (c.f. hääyöaie)
aio plan to do!
auo open!
oio take a shortcut!
ui swim!
ei no
Polynesian languages have numerous words with glottal stop (often indicated by ʻokina), such as Hawaiian ʻāʻaua "coarse", ʻaeʻoia "to be well supplied", uauoʻoa "distant voices", which may be spelled with all vowels in English transcription; however, ʻokina is a full consonant, and such words will not be considered here.
aea to rise up
aeae andante
aeāea sp. small green fish
ai to copulate
aia there is; depending on (you)
āio, ioio grooves
ao light, day; cloud; world; be careful; sp. mat; sp. fish
aoaoa sp. seaside shrub
au era; current; gall; weather; poor-quality sweet potatoes; pumice; grain of wood; to weed; to set; sp. shrub
āu your
aua to observe (rare)
auau to hurry
aue = ue 3
auēuē calling, crying, humming
ea command; air, breath, life; to rise; to smell
eaea air, breath; high waves; a smell (as of seaweed)
eia here
eo to lose
eō here!, to call, to answer
iā yard (from English)
iāia (to, for) him, her
io (part of a paddle)
iōē to answer a chant
i ou to you
iū you (from English)
oaoa = ohaoha
oe a drawn-out sound
Oea (name of a star)
oeoe whistle, siren, etc.
oi to move
oī = ōwī
oia to continue
oio (part of a canoe rim)
oioi to squirm
ou your; to float, lean on (rare)
o ua o = ua ona o aforementioned
ua rain; demon
uai to move s.t.
uaoa mist (rare)
uaua tough
uauai to repeatedly move s.t.
ue (uwe) to twist, pry; pandanus mat
uē (uwē) to weep
uea (uwea) wire (from English)
ueue (uweuwe) to wriggle
uēuē (uwēuwē) a dirge
ui to ask
uia sp. taro
uiui to ask & ask
uō (uwō) to bellow
uoi to move along together
uōuō (uwō.uwō) shouting
uouoa, uoa false mullet (sp. fish)
Japanese has numerous words, such as ai "love", which are borrowed from Chinese or are composed of Chinese loans and have no consonants. A smaller number of native words fit this description as well.
aa ああ in that way
aaiu ああいう that kind, like that
ai 合, 会, 相, 間 together, between
ai 鮎 sweetfish
Aioi 相生 the city of Aioi
aoi 青い blue/green
au 会う, 合う to meet, to fit
ee ええ yes
ie 家 house
ie 言え tell!
ii いい good
iie いいえ no
iu 言う to say, tell, call
oe 追え chase!
oi 甥 nephew
oioi 徐々 gradually
ooe 覆え cover!
ooi 多い many
ooi 覆い covering
oou 覆う to cover
ou 追う to chase, to follow
ue 上 above, top, on top of
ue 飢え hunger / starvation
uo 魚 fish
ea feminine nominative singular and neuter nominative and accusative plural of is demonstrative adjective and pronoun
eī masculine nominative plural and common dative singular of is
eō common ablative singular of is; also, present indicative active first-person singular of īre to go, hence "I go"
iī perfect active infinitive of the verb īre to go, hence "to have gone"
aí [aˈi] there
éon [ˈɛ.õ] aeon (Brazil)
eóo [eˈɔ.u] Oriental (m) (archaic)
eoa [eˈɔ.ɐ] Oriental (f) (archaic)
ia [ˈi.ɐ] I/he/she/it was going
iam [ˈi.ɐ̃ũ] they were going
íon [ˈi.õ] ion (Brazil)
ué [uˈɛ] (an interjection)
eu I
aai who? whose?
aau to throw or catch with both hands; contagion
ai to copulate; there is; this much
ao command; nightfall
âo to serve food
au I; smoke; current; dew; bile
aûa enclosure, ring (Tahitian loan)
auau to shout in pain
ea to rise, get up
êi a lampoon
eo a fragrance
éoéo ashes
îa he, she, it
ioio a bit
oi to move away
ôi to stir; ôiôi to stir and stir
oou yours
ua cause, reason; ceremonial staff
ûa the rain
uáuá to reside, resident
ûaûa muscles, tendons
uéué to flutter
ui to ask
Scottish Gaelic uses the digraphs bh, dh, gh, mh, th to separate vowels in hiatus. Examples include:
adha [ɤ.ə] "liver"
ogha [o.ə] "nephew"
The small list of vowel-only words in Spanish is expanded by the fact that the letter h is soundless in this language.
ahí there
hay there is/are
hoy today
hui I fled away
huía I/he/she used to flee away/was fleeing away
oí I heard
oía I/he/she used to hear/was hearing
Many Bantu languages allow vowel sequences. In Swahili, this is sometimes due to the disappearance of the consonant /l/.
au or
aua to survey
eua to purify
oa to take a wife
ua a flower
ua a boma (fenced enclosure)
ua to kill
uo a sheath
