Long e is the vowel sound in words like "see," "beat," and "me"—the stretched pronunciation of the letter e, as opposed to the short e in "bed" or "set." In phonics instruction, long vowels "say their name": The long e in "theme" sounds like the letter e itself.
Related — bee (Stinging nectar gatherer); read (Comprehend written language); me (First-person object pronoun); he · vowel · plea · free speech · digraph · silent e · believe · phoneme · happy · receive
Opposites
vowel lengthlong e ≠ short e Lax mid-front vowel; short i · short vowels · short vowel · schwa · short a
vowel heightlong e ≠ long a Vowel saying its name; long o · long u
Phrases
no longer (Past, not present); how long (Query about time needed); long ago (In the distant past); long time (Extended period elapsed); as long as (Conditional conjunction phrase); long shot (Unlikely to succeed)
Categories
long vowel words: cake, beet, kite, boat, cube; front vowels: short e, short i; tense vowels; vowels: a, e, u, y, vowel; vowel sounds: diphthongs
Family
long, longer, longest, longing, longingly, prolong, prolonged, prolongation, elongate
- Familiarity
- Top 200,000
- Profile
- Known to kids · Used worldwide · Timeless · Everyday, not technical · Rated G