diacritic

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diacritic

/ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/ UK
/ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/ Canada, US
[ˌdaɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk] Canada, US
/ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪtɪk/ Australia
[ˌdɑɪəˈkɹɪɾɪk] Australia

Rhymes with -ɪtɪk

Where it comes from

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek διακριτικός (diakritikós, “distinguishing, separative”), from διακρῑ́νω (diakrī́nō, “to distinguish, separate”), from δια- (dia-, “between”) + κρῑ́νω (krī́nō, “I separate, distinguish”).

adjective more diacritic · most diacritic

Distinguishing.
not comparable Denoting a distinguishing mark applied to a letter or character.

Similar: diacritical

noun diacritics

A special mark added to a letter to indicate a different pronunciation, stress, tone, or meaning.
Similar: diacritical, diacritical mark
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.

Thesaurus

adjective

Similar: diacritical

Translations

Every language

noun diacritical mark

Español	diacrítico

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MLA

"diacritic." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/diacritic. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

diacritic. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/diacritic

Chicago

"diacritic." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/diacritic.

BibTeX

@misc{diacritic_2026,
  title = {diacritic},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/diacritic},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}