This is known as a long vowel sound, because it says the ânameâ of the letter. The same goes for the other vowels. A short vowel sound is a vowel sound that does not follow this rule. When reading a word that uses a short vowel sound, will say the sound that the letter can make that is not its actual name. So in the case of âA,â the word âmainâ might have a long âAâ sound because we pronounce the âAâ as /Ä/, whereas the word âmanâ has a short vowel sound.
Gill arches supporting the gills in a pike. Branchial arches, or gill arches, are a series of bony loops present in fish, which support the gills. As gills are the primitive condition of vertebrates, all vertebrate embryos develop pharyngeal arches, though the eventual fate of these arches varies between taxa.
arch1. 1  Architecture. a curved masonry construction for spanning an opening, consisting of a number of wedgelike stones, bricks, or the like, set with the narrower side toward the opening in such a way that forces on the arch are transmitted as vertical or oblique stresses on either side of the opening.