The story
Blend of schwa + i. Alteration of vowel in the word schwa to more closely approximate the sound described.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
schwi
Today it means: An indeterminate near-close central unrounded vowel sound, such as the "e" in "roses" or the "y" in "very", depending on the accent; sometimes represented as [[[ɨ]]] in IPA or [[[ᵻ]]] in para-IPA. Full definition →