The open-mid central unrounded vowel is a type of vowel sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɜ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is 3. Note that the IPA symbol is not the number "3", but a reversed epsilon.

Features of this vowel:

• Its vowel height is open-mid, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between an open vowel and a mid vowel.
• Its vowel backness is central, which means the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel.
• Its vowel roundedness is unrounded, which means that the lips are not rounded.

Occurs in:

• English (Received Pronunciation) fur [fɜː]