- Ie (digraph)
Ie is a
digraph found in manylanguage s.In English, it usually represents the IPA|/aɪ/ sound as in "pries" and "allied" or the /iː/ sound as in "priest" and "rallied". Followed by an "r", these vowels follow the standard changes to IPA|/aɪə/ and IPA|/ɪə/, as in "brier" and "bier". Unique pronunciations are IPA|/ɪ/ in "sieve", IPA|/ɛ/ in "friend" and IPA|/eɪ/ in "lingerie". Unstressed it can represent IPA|/jə/, as in "spaniel" and "conscience", or IPA|/ɨ/ or IPA|/ə/ as in "mischief" and "hurriedly". It also can represent many vowel combinations, including IPA|/aɪə/ in "diet" and "client", IPA|/aɪɛ/ in "diester" and "quiescent", IPA|/iːə/ in "alien" and "skier", IPA|/iːɛ/ in "oriental" and "hygienic", and IPA|/iːʔiː/ in British "medieval".
Dutch
In Dutch, the ie represents IPA|/i/.
German
In German, it may represent the lengthened vowel IPA| [iː] as in "Tier" (animal) as well as the vowel combination IPA| [iə] as in "Belgien" (Belgium).
Latvian and Lithuanian
In Latvian and Lithuanian, the ie is considered two letters for all purposes and represents IPA|/i̯e/.
Maltese
In Maltese, ie is a distinct letter and represents a long
close front unrounded vowel (IPA: IPA|/iː/) or IPA|/iɛ/.Pinyin
In
Pinyin it is used to write the vowel IPA|/e/ in languages such as Yi, where "e" stands for IPA|/ɛ/.ee also
*
I before e except after c
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