Diacritical marks and accents

Ever seen letters with squiggles or accents on? These are often called accents, but their full title is diacritics, and they provide clues of a word’s pronunciation. They come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, hanging off the bottom of some letters or hovering on top of others.

Often, diacritical marks are used to indicate which syllable of a word is stressed, to differentiate different words that may be spelt similarly, or to modify the sounds of certain words. They are most commonly used in non-English words, though it is likely you may encounter them, so brush up!

Acute accent

Most famously, the acute accent is used in certain languages to emphasise vowel sounds. Acute accents do not appear in any English words, but as modern language has… acquired words from various cultures, diacritical words have become common in written and spoken contexts!

Popular examples of Acute accents include the words:

• Blasé (disinterest in something as it has been seen so many times before)
• Cliché (an unoriginal idea or phrase which has been overused)
• Fiancé (a man to whom someone is engaged)

Grave accent

This accent mark leans the opposite way to the above acute accent, and sounds a lot like the English words ‘set’ or ‘bet’. It mainly comes into play to mark the vowels of a word and ensure they aren’t pronounced silently.

Some examples of the Grave accent are:

• Agèd (someone quite elderly or who has lived for a long time)
• Crème brûlée (a custard-based dessert with a caramelised topping)
• Déjà vu (the feeling you’ve already experienced something)

Cedilla accent

In French, the cedilla is used exclusively for the letter ‘c’ and denotes a softer pronunciation of this letter. As with the acute accent, there are no English words using the cedilla – only bored words from other languages such as Portuguese, Catalan and Turkish, too!

Some examples of the Cedilla accent are:

• Exceção (Portuguese for exception)
• Façade (a deceptive appearance)
• Garçon (French for a male)

Circumflex accent

The circumflex accent has the power to change the meaning of certain words, as well as differentiating between homonyms – words that are pronounced or spelled similarly but have different meanings overall.

Here are some examples of the Circumflex accent:

• Du (of the), dû (due)
• Sur (on), sûr (safe)
• Mur (wall), mûr (ripe)

Umlaut accent

Translating the word ‘umlaut’ from German gives you the phrasing ‘changed sound’ – and umlaut can refer to the process where a vowel sound shifted in the past as well as the mark itself. 

Here are some examples of the Umlaut accent:

• Äpfel means apples in German
• Öffen means to open in German
• Hören means to hear in German

Breve accent

The breve is used to show a short or unstressed vowel – the Latin meaning of breve is ‘brief’. Indicating a light syllable, one that is comparatively shorter than others.

Here are some examples of the Breve accent:

• Măr means apple in Romanian
• Drŏll means curious in a way that amuses someone
• It’s also used for shortening vowels

Háček/Caron accent

The first recorded use of a háček in English in the early 1950s – though it is usually used in Baltic and Salvic languages to show a change in pronunciation. Its meaning is borrowed and means ‘little hook’.

Here are some examples of the Háček/Caron accent:

• Tšekk means check in Estonian
• Česká republika means the Czech Republic in Czech
• Škoda is a car brand from the Czech Republic

Macron accent

It originally was used to mark long syllables, but now more often than not it marks a long vowel. It serves the total opposite role to the breve, which is a shorter and snappier intonation.

Here are some examples of the Macron accent:

• Flūmen means river in Latin
• Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand’s mainland
• Wētā is the common name for insects in New Zealand.

Tilde accent

A tilde is a typographical symbol used most often in Portuguese or Spanish words, but can be found in plenty of others to create phonetic pronunciation. 

Here’s some Tilde accent examples:

• Mañana means tomorrow in Spanish
• Señor means mister in Spanish
• São Paulo is a city in Brazil

Tittle accent

The tittle refers to the small dot that appears above the lowercase letters ‘i’ and ‘j’. Originally thought up in order to differentiate the letters from a sea of others in similar handwriting, it was used often in Latin manuscripts.

Here are some fun facts about the Tittle:

• The phrase ‘to a t’ is believed to have some from the use of titles, the small mark ensuring that every minor detail of writing was correct
• Hijinks is a word with both tittles in it
• Jiu-jitsu is a weaponless method of self-defense with both tittles

Angstrom accent

This symbol appears in some of the alphabets of Scandinavian languages, like Danish, Norwegian and Danish.

Here are some examples of the Angstrom accent and their meanings:

• Åben means open in Danish
• Åtta means eight in Swedish
• Gå mean go in Norwegian

Ligature accent

In printing terms, a ligature is a character consisting of multiple conjoined letters. In modern English, ligatures are rarely used, except for stylistic reasons.

• Encyclopædia is an alternative spelling of the English word encyclopaedia
• Amœba features a ligature of its first pair of vowels
• Ægypt is a fantasy tetralogy written by John Crowley

Don’t be dia-critical!

Well, I sure learned a lot! There’s plenty more to know about diacritics, but that was a rapidfire tour of most of the examples you’re likely to come across in English writing. From angstroms to umlauts, now you know how to accentuate your writing properly!