IPA phonetic symbol 〚ɛ〛

The IPA phonetic symbol [ɛ] represents an open-mid front unrounded vowel, like the most common pronunciation of the English phoneme // (as in dress). It is also the "ê" sound in French, as in bête (animal) or the "e" sound in German Bett (bed).

The English phonemes /e/ and /eə/ use "e" instead of "ɛ" only for historical reasons, and several dictionaries prefer "ɛ" over "e". In any case there is no confusion with /eɪ/: if a broad notation has the symbol /e/ followed by anything different of /ɪ/, then [ɛ] should be understood. In this way, /feɪs/ is [feɪs], /dres/ is [drɛs] and /skweər/ is [skwɛər].

See also IPA phonetic symbol [e].

Unicode and HTML
Unicode: U+025B Latin small letter open E

HTML: &amp;#x25b; &amp;#603;

Can be confused with U+03B5 Greek small letter epsilon: &amp;#x3b5; &#x3b5;