You Know about Diphthongs...But What About Triphthongs?

by Elizabeth Osbourne

So, I was flipping through my dictionary, and I came across the word “triphthong.” I knew about diphthongs, two vowels blended together like in the word “boil,” oi-uh.

But a triphthong is THREE of these—it took me a second to understand, but take the word “wow”—you actually say three vowels when you say it: ooh-ah-ooh! Or if you say “way,” you’re actually saying “ooh-ay-ee.”

Isn’t that cool? (By the way, make sure you spell triphthong” with that first “h” if you put it in Google — if you look up “tripthong,” you get something very different…)