Shewa (, Šawa; ), formerly romanized as Shoa, is a historical region of Ethiopia, formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The Ethiopian modern capital Addis Ababa is located at its center.

Shva or, in Biblical Hebrew, Sh'wa is a Hebrew niqqud vowel sign written as two vertical dots "ְ" beneath a letter. In Modern Hebrew, it indicates either the phoneme  or the complete absence of a vowel (Ø), whereas in Hebrew prescriptive linguistics, six grammatical entities are differentiated: the resting Shva ( / ), such as in the words שִׁמְעִי and כַּרְמִי ; the mobile Shva (na / ), such as the Shva which appears at the beginning of words, which renders the vowel a mobile vowel, as in the Hebrew word "floating" ( / ), or as in לְפָנָי (lefanai) or שְׁמַע (shema) ; or whenever a diacritical vertical line known as a / (lit. "bleating" or "bellowing") appears next to a Shva. For example, in the words הַֽמְקַנֵּ֥א אַתָּ֖ה לִ֑י , the Shva beneath the Hebrew character mim becomes a mobile Shva because of the Ga'ya (small vertical line) beneath the Hebrew character he. In all these cases the Shva gives an audible sound to the letter, as in a short "a" or short "e", and is not mute. Likewise, whenever a Shva appears in the middle of a word and the letter has a diacritical point within it (dagesh), as in the pe of מִפְּנֵיכֶם , or in the qoph of מִקְּדָֿשׁ , they too will become a mobile Shva (na / ), as will a word that that has two Shvas written one after the other, as in the word רַעְמְסֵס , or in the word וישְׁמְעו , etc. the first Shva is resting (mute), while the second Shva is a mobile Shva. Another instance of where the Shva becomes mobile is when it comes directly after a long vowel sound, such as the long vowel of either yod or ḥiríq, as in יְחִֽידְֿךָ , giving it the sound of yeḥīdh^əkha, etc., or as in the long vowel of waw or ḥolam, as in the words הוֹלְכִֿים, יוֹדְֿעִים and מוֹכְֿרִים, etc. (hōl^əkhīm, yōd^əʻīm and mōkh^ərīm), or as in the verse שֹׁפְטִים וְשֹׁטְרִים תִּתֶּן לְךָ , “shōfəṭīm wa-shōṭərīm titen ləkha.”