cedilla
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cedilla
- /səˈdɪlə/
Rhymes with -ɪlə
Where it comes from
Borrowed from Spanish cedilla (literally “little zed”), c. 1600. In Spanish cedilla referred to the letter ⟨Ç⟩, which had evolved from ⟨Ꝣ⟩, a Visigothic form of the letter Z (called a Z with copete); hence the name. The lower part of ⟨Ç⟩ (which came to be reinterpreted as a diacritical mark under a C) is the remnant of the original Z, after it gradually reduced in size; whereas the upper part was originally just an ornamentation over the Z (which increased in size until it resembled letter C, and finally came to be identified with this letter).
noun cedillas · cedillae
- A diacritical mark ⟨¸⟩ placed beneath a letter to modify its pronunciation, used in the orthographies of many languages, such as under c in Catalan, French and Portuguese to indicate /s/ rather than /k/ (e.g. Catalan força, French menaçant, Portuguese almoço) and in other languages to modify the pronunciation of the letter c (e.g. from /d͡ʒ/ to /t͡ʃ/ in Turkish) or of other letters. California, like several other states, prohibits the use of diacritical marks or accents on official documents. That means no tilde (~), no accent grave (`), no umlaut (¨) and certainly no cedilla (¸).
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Synonym of cauda
The scribal discipline indicated by this sort of consistency extends to such details as the employment of different forms of cedilla appended to the letter e to distinguish between diphthong ae and diphthong oe.
Similar: cauda
Translations
Talk about this word "cedilla." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cedilla. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. cedilla. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cedilla "cedilla." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cedilla.Cite this
@misc{cedilla_2026,
title = {cedilla},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cedilla},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
