diacritic
noun
- a mark near or through an orthographic or phonetic character or combination of characters indicating a phonetic value different from that given the unmarked or otherwise marked element
adjective
- diacritical
- (Medicine) diagnostic or distinctive
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/ / [ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk] / /ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/
adj
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δια- (dia-) Proto-Indo-European *krey- Proto-Indo-European *krinyétider. Proto-Hellenic *kríňňō Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω (krī́nō) Ancient Greek κρῐ- (krĭ-) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek κρῐτής (krĭtḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós) Ancient Greek δῐᾰκρῐτῐκός (dĭăkrĭtĭkós)lbor. English diacritic Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, “distinguishing, separative”), from διακρῑ́νω (diakrī́nō, “to distinguish, separate”), from δια- (dia-, “between”) + κρῑ́νω (krī́nō, “I separate, distinguish”).
- Distinguishing.
- Denoting a distinguishing mark applied to a letter or character.
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European *dwísder. Ancient Greek διά (diá) Ancient Greek δια- (dia-) Proto-Indo-European *krey- Proto-Indo-European *krinyétider. Proto-Hellenic *kríňňō Ancient Greek κρῑ́νω (krī́nō) Ancient Greek κρῐ- (krĭ-) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek κρῐτής (krĭtḗs) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek κριτικός (kritikós) Ancient Greek δῐᾰκρῐτῐκός (dĭăkrĭtĭkós)lbor. English diacritic Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, “distinguishing, separative”), from διακρῑ́νω (diakrī́nō, “to distinguish, separate”), from δια- (dia-, “between”) + κρῑ́νω (krī́nō, “I separate, distinguish”).
- A special mark added to a letter to indicate a different pronunciation, stress, tone, or meaning.
- A letter added to another letter serving a similar indicative function.
“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.”