cedilla

American  

[si-dil-uh] / sɪˈdɪl ə /

noun

1. Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (¸) placed under a consonant letter, as under c in French, in Portuguese, and formerly in Spanish, to indicate that it is pronounced (s), under c and s in Turkish to indicate that they are pronounced, respectively, (ch) and (sh), or under t and s in Romanian to indicate that they are pronounced, respectively, (ts) and (sh).

2. Orthography. this mark used as a diacritic of arbitrary value in transliteration of words from non-Roman into Roman alphabetic characters.

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cedilla British  

/ sɪˈdɪlə /

noun

1. a character ( ¸ ) placed underneath a c before a, o, or u, esp in French, Portuguese, or Catalan, denoting that it is to be pronounced (s), not (k). The same character is used in the scripts of other languages, as in Turkish under s

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Etymology

Origin of cedilla

1590–1600; < Spanish variant spelling of zedilla little z, equivalent to zed ( a ) zed + -illa diminutive suffix; the mark was so called from its original form

Example Sentences

As played by Katie Nigsch in this handsomely acted, mostly sleek Hub Theatre production, Margaret is visibly thrilled when she handles a cedilla during the course of a mini-show-and-tell.

From Washington Post • Apr. 14, 2015

To make a C with a cedilla, for example, involved a lot more effort and thought than holding down the Option key on your Mac.

From New York Times • Dec. 24, 2011

Then Sandra spelled cedilla with an "s," and it was only because Jean flubbed papyraceous that Sandra was saved.

From Time Magazine Archive

In manuscripts, where it was easy to forget to add the cedilla, the plain e lasts much longer.

From The Age of Erasmus Lectures Delivered in the Universities of Oxford and London by Allen, P. S. (Percy Stafford)

The thought of them, at any time of the day, can put a cedilla under my heart to soften it....

From The Prairie Mother by Becher, Arthur E.