y
/ə/
In Welsh, y refers to the twenty-fifth letter of the English alphabet.
How do you pronounce it?
/ə/
Did you know?
- The letter y has distant linguistic relatives in Sanskrit, such as the word 'ihá', which means 'here'.
- While y means 'the', it changes to yr when the following word begins with a vowel or the letter h.
- In the Welsh alphabet, the letter y is a vowel and can be pronounced in several different ways depending on the word.
Examples in context
- Mae fy mab yn mynd i'r ysgol.My son is going to school.
- Dw i'n hoffi teithio o amgylch y byd.I like traveling around the world.
Example conversation
Catrin and Dylan are studying English spelling.
- CatrinYdy'r gair hwn yn deaio y?Does this word contain y?
- DylanYdy, mae y yn y canol.Yes, y is in the middle.
- CatrinSut yw y yn swnio yma?How does y sound here?
- DylanMae y yn swnio fel i.The y sounds like i.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry y, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries y, CC BY-SA 4.0.
