dieresis

American  

[dahy-er-uh-sis] / daɪˈɛr ə sɪs /

Or diaeresis

noun

plural

diereses

1. Linguistics, Phonetics. the separation of two adjacent vowels, dividing one syllable into two.

2. Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (¨) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate separate pronunciation, as in one spelling of the older forms naïve and coöperate: no longer widely used in English.

3. Prosody. the division made in a line or verse by coincidence of the end of a foot and the end of a word.

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dieresis British  

/ daɪˈɛrɪsɪs, ˌdaɪəˈrɛtɪk /

noun

1. a variant spelling of diaeresis

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Other Word Forms

• dieretic adjective

Etymology

Origin of dieresis

1605–15; < Latin diaeresis < Greek diaíresis literally, distinction, division, equivalent to diaire-, stem of diaireîn to divide ( di- di- ³ + haireîn to take) + -sis -sis

Example Sentences

Iäsion and Iänthe are regularly written with dieresis, while Iarbas, Iapyx, Iapygia are written without.

From The Metamorphoses of Ovid Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes and Explanations by Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas)

At "anapest" it was a noticeable frown, at "apothem" it became very pronounced, and at "dieresis" his shaggy red brows nearly covered his eyes, he was frowning so hard.

From Mike Flannery On Duty and Off by Butler, Ellis Parker

Since the ligatures “æ” and “œ” are used consistently, dieresis in “oe” and “ae” can be assumed even when not explicitly indicated.

From The Metamorphoses of Ovid Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes and Explanations by Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas)

DeVinne uses the dieresis instead of the hyphen in such cases as co-operate or pre-eminent, writing coöperate, preëminent.

From Compound Words Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #36 by Hamilton, Frederick W. (Frederick William)

Since the ligatures “æ” and “œ” are used consistently, dieresis can be assumed even when not explicitly indicated.

From The Metamorphoses of Ovid Vol. I, Books I-VII by Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas)