The story
From Hebrew שווא / שְׁוָא (shvá, šəwɔʾ). Doublet of schwa.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
shva
Today it means: A Hebrew nikud vowel sign written as two vertical dots beneath a letter, in Israeli Hebrew indicating either the phoneme /e/ or the complete absence of a vowel. Full definition →