ID: q98999
Diacritical marks are symbols added to letters of the alphabet to indicate different pronunciation than the letters are usually given. This article describes the most common diacritical symbols, as well as some punctuation marks commonly used in French, Italian, and Spanish.
The examples given below are ANSI values, as shown in the Windows 3.1 character map.
Diacritical
Mark Description
acute accent A little diagonal line, used over a vowel. Usually
indicates which syllable is stressed. Slants from upper
right down to lower left. Used in French, Hungarian,
Portuguese, and Spanish.
Example: 0225 (accent over lowercase A)
breve (BREEV) A curved mark over a vowel. Used to indicate a
short vowel or a short or unstressed syllable.
(Sometimes referred to as a "smiley face.") Used in
Latin and Turkish.
No example in standard Windows character set.
caret (CARE-et) The "hat" symbol found on the "6" key. See
also circumflex. Used in French and Portuguese.
Example: 0226 (lowercase A with caret above)
caron See hacek.
cedilla (sih-DIL-uh) A tiny curved symbol, like a backward "c,"
placed at the bottom of a letter to indicate a
different pronunciation (as in the French word
"facade"). Used in French.
Example: 0231 (cedilla beneath lowercase C)
circumflex A mark such as the caret or tilde, placed over a vowel
to indicate various pronunciations. Used in French and
Polish.
Example: 0226 (circumflex above lowercase A)
diaeresis (deye-ER-uh-suhs) The two dots that appear over a vowel
syllable (as in the word "naive," with the diaeresis
over the i). Looks like an umlaut.
Example: 0239 (diaeresis above lowercase I)
digraph See ligature.
edh (ETH) A letter used in Icelandic and Old English to
(or eth) represent a particular sound, usually "th". Looks
like a "d" tilted to the left, with a horizontal line
across the vertical stroke of the d.
Example: 0240
grave accent (GRAYV or GRAHV) The diagonal line that appears above
a vowel. Slants from upper left to lower right (the
reverse of the acute accent). Used in Ancient Greek,
French, and Italian.
Example: 0224 (grave accent above lowercase A)
hacek (HAH-check) Looks like an upside-down caret, or a
small "v". Placed above vowels and some consonants.
Used in many Eastern European languages.
Example: 0154 (s with hacek above). Not available as
a separate character with any of the fonts that ship
with Microsoft Windows.
Hungarian Two acute accents or prime marks. Used above a letter,
umlaut usually O or U. Used in Hungarian.
No example in ANSI character set.
ligature A character that resembles two characters joined
together, as in AE, fl, or OE. Used in Latin and
English.
Example: 0198 (uppercase AE ligature).
macron (MAY-krahn or MAH-kruhn) A horizontal line over a
vowel to indicate that the vowel is to be pronounced
stressed or long. Used in Latin.
Example: 0175. Available as a separate character
only.
ogonek A small mark placed beneath a letter. Generally under
E and A. Different reference books use different
marks. Used in Polish.
No example available in ANSI character set.
ring Hollow circle above a vowel. Used mainly in
(or volle) Scandinavian languages.
Example: 0229 (lowercase a with ring above)
tilde Placed over a letter to denote the "nyuh" sound (as in
the Spanish word "senora," with the tilde over the n),
or over a vowel to indicate nasality (as in the
Portuguese word "irma," with the tilde over the a).
Example: 0227 (lowercase A with tilde above)
umlaut Two dots placed above a vowel to indicate a partial
assimilation to a succeeding sound. Used primarily in
German.
Example: 0252 (lowercase U with umlaut above)
Mark Description
ellipsis Also called points of suspension; consists of three
periods set close together. Often used to indicate an
interruption or pause. Used mainly in French and
Spanish.
Example: three periods in a row.
em dash Looks like a long hyphen. Used like quotation marks.
Used mainly in French, Italian, and Spanish.
Example: 0151
guillemet (gee-yuh-MAY) Also called chevron. Looks like two
closely-spaced greater-than or less-than symbols. Used
like quotation marks. Used in French, Italian, and
Spanish.
Example: 0171 (open guillemets); 0187 (close
guillemets)
Microsoft Bookshelf 1992
"The Chicago Manual of Style," Thirteenth Edition, pages 253-279, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago: 1982
"Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary," Merriam-Webster Inc., Springfield, Massachusetts: 1990
"Words Into Type," Third Edition, Prentice Hall, New Jersey: 1974
KBCategory: kbother KBSubcategory: Additional reference words: winword winword2 special extended
Last Reviewed: December 4, 1995