Definition:
Rare in English, accent marks are a common occurrence in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other languages. An accent mark is a mark or addition to some characters to denote a specific pronounciation. For example, the acute accent mark over the letter e changes the pronunciation to more of a long a as in resumé and café.
Some of the more commonly seen accent marks are:
- acute (right slanting mark above the letter)
- cedilla (little curve under the letter)
- circumflex (tent shape above letter)
- grave (left slanting mark - reverse of acute)
- tilde (little squiggle mark above letter)
- umlaut (two small dots above the letter)
Also Known As: diacriticals | accents
Examples:
resumé (acute), façade (cedilla), château (circumflex), chère (grave), señor (tilde), naïve (umlaut)
