dieresis

di·er·e·sis or di·aer·e·sis  (d-r-ss)

n. pl. di·er·e·ses (-sz)

1. Linguistics

a. A mark ( ¨ ) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate that they are to be pronounced as separate sounds rather than a diphthong, as in naïve.

b. A mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel, such as the final vowel in Brontë, to indicate that the vowel is not silent.

2. Poetry A break or pause in a line of verse that occurs when the end of a word and the end of a metrical foot coincide.

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[Late Latin diaeresis, from Greek diairesis, from diairein, to divide : dia-, apart; see dia- + hairein, to take.]

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dieresis [die-air-iss-iss, -seez]

Noun

pl -ses same as diaeresis

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

dieresis - a diacritical mark (two dots) placed over a vowel in German to indicate a change in sound diaeresis, umlaut diacritic, diacritical mark - a mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation