diacritic

Borrowed from Ancient Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, “distinguishing, separative”), from διακρίνειν (diakrínein, “to distinguish, separate”), from διά (diá, “between”) + κρίνω (krínō, “I separate, distinguish”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/, [ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/, [ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk]

diacritic (comparative more diacritic, superlative most diacritic)

1. distinguishing
2. (orthography, not comparable) Denoting a distinguishing mark applied to a letter or character.

• diacritical

diacritic (plural diacritics)

1. A special mark added to a letter to indicate a different pronunciation, stress, tone, or meaning.

   Synonyms: diacritical, diacritical mark

   Hyponyms: accent, accent mark (synonymous in loose usage); cedilla, diaeresis, röck döts, tilde, tone mark, umlaut

2. (more loosely) A letter added to another letter serving a similar indicative function.
   • 1965, Arne Zettersten, Studies in the dialect and vocabulary of the Ancrene Riwle (Lund Studies in English; 31), Lund: C. W. K. Gleerup, page 173:

     A notable feature in N is the frequent oa spellings […] The a is here a diacritic which is meant to distinguish /ɔ̄/ from /ō/ on the model of the distinction ea /ǣ/—e /ē/ in the AB texts.

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “diacritic”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “diacritic”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• diacritic on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• triacidic

Borrowed from French diacritique.

• IPA^(key): /ˌdi.aˈkri.tik/

diacritic m or n (feminine singular diacritică, masculine plural diacritici, feminine and neuter plural diacritice)

1. diacritic, diacritical

diacritic n (plural diacritice)

1. diacritic

   Synonym: semn diacritic