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diacritic

American  
[dahy-uh-krit-ik] / ˌdaɪ əˈkrɪt ɪk /

noun

  1. Also called diacritical mark.  a mark, point, or sign added or attached to a letter or character to distinguish it from another of similar form, to give it a particular phonetic value, to indicate stress, etc., as a cedilla, tilde, circumflex, or macron.

adjective

  1. diacritical.

  2. diagnostic.

diacritic British  
/ ˌdaɪəˈkrɪtɪk /

noun

  1. Also called: diacritical mark.  a sign placed above or below a character or letter to indicate that it has a different phonetic value, is stressed, or for some other reason

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. another word for diacritical

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of diacritic

First recorded in 1670–80; from Greek diakritikós “able to distinguish, distinguishing,” equivalent to dia- dia- + kritikós; critic

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

First, there is that silent "h" — but it ends flatly, without the diacritic that would make it rise, as if it were a question.

From Salon • Nov. 14, 2021

We make use of lots of different types of punctuation, casing, font styles, and diacritic marks.

From Slate • Sep. 30, 2016

The broad lower end of the symbol is rather an accidental pit in the stone than an attempt at a diacritic mark—the word is regei, in all probability the early dative form of rex, "king."

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary" by Various

In this not only were the vowel marks wanting, but the diacritic points which served to distinguish from each other several similar letters.

From The Formation of Christendom, Volume VII by Allies, Thomas W.

If any of these characters do not display properly—in particular, if a diacritic does not appear directly above or below its letter—you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts.

From Indian Linguistic Families Of America, North Of Mexico Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891, pages 1-142 by Powell, John Wesley

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.