umlaut

American  

[oom-lout] / ˈʊm laʊt /

noun

1. Phonetics, Orthography.  a diacritic (¨) used over a vowel, as ä, ö, ü, to indicate a vowel sound different from that of the letter without the diacritic, especially as so used in German.

2. Also called vowel mutation.  Linguistics, Phonetics.  (in Germanic languages) assimilation in which a vowel is influenced by a following vowel or semivowel.

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verb (used with object)

1. Linguistics, Phonetics.  to modify by umlaut.

2. Phonetics, Orthography.  to write an umlaut over.

umlaut British  

/ ˈʊmlaʊt /

noun

1. the mark (¨) placed over a vowel in some languages, such as German, indicating modification in the quality of the vowel Compare diaeresis

2. (esp in Germanic languages) the change of a vowel within a word brought about by the assimilating influence of a vowel or semivowel in a preceding or following syllable

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Etymology

Origin of umlaut

1835–45; < German, equivalent to um- about, around + Laut sound

Example Sentences

It’s been a rough week for fans of legendary heavy metal groups with umlauts in their names.

From Los Angeles Times

His song titles often feature extraneous umlauts, and while the accent mark highlights different vowel sounds, Yeat seems obsessed with creating new sounds entirely.

From Washington Post

His English was poor, though he had just sacrificed an umlaut in his surname in deference to American spelling.

From New York Times

“Just to make the point, most phones won’t let you put an umlaut over an n. Look: n. It’s impossible. Spın̈al Tap will have to remain for the pre-iPhone age.”

From The Guardian

"Across all categories we see the system becoming more mature and stable", said Hakan Ekman, one of the study's authors. umlaut conducted a similar ranking in 2020 in California.

From Reuters