sheva

Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, shĕwa (Hebrew: שְׁוָא‎) is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots ( ְ ‎) beneath a letter. It indicates either the phoneme /ə/ (shva na', mobile shva) or the complete absence of a vowel (Ø) (shva nach, resting shva).
It is transliterated as "e", "ĕ", "ə", "'" (apostrophe), or nothing. Note that usage of "ə" for shva is questionable: transliterating Modern Hebrew shva nach with "ə" is misleading, since it is never actually pronounced [ə] – the vowel [ə] does not exist in Modern Hebrew. Moreover, the vowel [ə] is probably not characteristic of earlier pronunciations such as Tiberian vocalization.
A shva sign in combination with the vowel diacritics patáẖ, segól and kamáts katán produces a "ẖatáf": a diacritic for a "tnuʿá ẖatufá" (a "fleeting" or "furtive" vowel).

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