diacritic

/ˌdaɪəˈkrɪdɪk/
IPA guide

Other forms: diacritics; diacritically

Definitions of diacritic
  1. noun
    a mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation
    synonyms: diacritical mark
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    types:
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    accent, accent mark
    a diacritical mark used to indicate stress or placed above a vowel to indicate a special pronunciation
    breve
    a diacritical mark (U-shaped) placed over a vowel to indicate a short sound
    cedilla
    a diacritical mark (,) placed below the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced as an s
    circumflex
    a diacritical mark (^) placed above a vowel in some languages to indicate a special phonetic quality
    hacek, wedge
    a diacritical mark (an inverted circumflex) placed above certain letters (such as the letter c) to indicate pronunciation
    macron
    a diacritical mark (-) placed above a vowel to indicate a long sound
    tilde
    a diacritical mark (~) placed over the letter n in Spanish to indicate a palatal nasal sound or over a vowel in Portuguese to indicate nasalization
    diaeresis, dieresis, umlaut
    a diacritical mark (two dots) placed over a vowel in German to indicate a change in sound
    stress mark
    a mark indicating the stress on a syllable
    acute, acute accent, ague
    a mark (') placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation
    grave, grave accent
    a mark (`) placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation
    type of:
    mark
    a written or printed symbol (as for punctuation)
  2. adjective
    capable of distinguishing
    “students having superior diacritic powers”
    “"the diacritic elements in culture"- S.F.Nadel”
    synonyms: diacritical
    discriminant, discriminating
    showing or indicating careful judgment and discernment especially in matters of taste
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