illustration Dieresis

Dieresis

[di-ER-əs-əs]

Part of speech: noun

Origin: Latin/Greek, 17th century

1.

A mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is sounded in a separate syllable, as in “naïve,” “Brontë.”

2.

The division of a sound into two syllables, especially by sounding a diphthong as two vowels.

Examples of Dieresis in a sentence

"‘The New Yorker’ is known for using a dieresis on words with a repeated vowel, such as ‘reënter.’"

"Luanne and Sally chose to use a dieresis in place of a hyphen when naming their store Coöperative."

illustration Dieresis

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