A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel. The central vowels identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

• close central unrounded vowel [ɨ]
• close central rounded vowel [ʉ]
• close-mid central unrounded vowel [ɘ]
• close-mid central rounded vowel [ɵ]
• mid central vowel [ə]
• open-mid central unrounded vowel [ɜ]
• open-mid central rounded vowel [ɞ]
• near-open central vowel [ɐ]
• open central unrounded vowel [a] (unofficial but most frequent usage)

Occasionally, the ad hoc symbols ᵻ, ᵿ (ɪ, ʊ) for near-close central vowels will be seen.