diaeresis
Two dots above
A diaeresis is the two-dot mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate it should be pronounced separately from an adjacent vowel: *naïve*, *Brontë*, *coöperate*.
The mark distinguishes these from diphthongs where two vowels blend into one sound.
American publications increasingly drop diaereses, though *The New Yorker* famously retains them.
Also spelled dieresis.
Unsophisticated and trusting
- coöperateWork jointly with others
- BrontëLiterary sisters' surname
- NoëlFrench Christmas term
- ZoëGreek-origin female name
Chloë · coördinate · New Yorker · spelling · loanword · French · German · proper names
Break in activity
- syllableUnit of pronunciation
- vowelUnobstructed speech sound
- phoneticsStudy of speech sounds
- articulationClear vocal expression
enunciation · phonology · phoneme · vocalic · vocalization · stress · syllabification · diphthong
Double-dot diacritical mark
- markVisible impression or sign
- glyphVisual form of character
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- graphemeMinimal written symbol unit
typography · typesetting · printing · digraph · trigraph · transliteration · transcription · notation
Splitting into parts
- disjunctionState of being apart
- hiatusBreak in activity
- splitSeparation into parts
- distinctClearly distinguishable, separate
naïve
Unsophisticated and trusting
Zoë · Chloë · coördinate · New Yorker · spelling · loanword · French · German · proper names · English
hiatus
Break in activity
articulation · enunciation · phonology · phoneme · vocalic · vocalization · stress · syllabification · diphthong · prosody
umlaut
Double-dot diacritical mark
- markVisible impression or sign
- glyphVisual form of character
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
grapheme · typography · typesetting · printing · digraph · trigraph · transliteration · transcription · notation · editors
division
Splitting into parts
- disjunctionState of being apart
- hiatusBreak in activity
- splitSeparation into parts
distinct · separate · partition · bifurcation
diaeresisumlaut
Double-dot diacritical mark
breve · circumflex · tilde · cedilla · acute accent
diaeresiselision
Dropped sounds in speech
monophthongization · contraction · diphthong · ligature · coalescence