grave accent
- noun
- Specialized
:
acento grave
- In French, the word 'père' contains a grave accent over the letter 'e'.
Examples
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Use a grave accent on 'a' in the word 'à' to distinguish it from 'a'.
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The grave accent is less common in English but appears in some borrowed words.
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In French, the grave accent indicates the pronunciation of vowels.
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Can you show me where the grave accent is used?
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In French, the word 'café' contains a grave accent over the letter 'e'.
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The grave accent in the word 'où' helps to indicate its meaning in French.
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When typing in Spanish, remember to use a grave accent on the letter 'a' to form 'à'.
Synonyms
9
9.5
A small mark above a vowel that shows how to say it
5
4.8
A mark above a vowel showing how to pronounce it
A mark placed above or below a letter to show which syllable is strong and how to say it
A small sign written on a letter to show how to say it or to change its meaning
A small mark that changes the sound of a letter
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'grave' specifies the type of 'accent', so a learner who knows those constituent senses will infer it denotes a particular diacritic mark. Although in computing contexts it is called a backtick or used as a delimiter, the basic meaning 'a kind of accent mark' is transparently derived from the parts.
Etymology
Grave accent got its name from an old word meaning 'heavy' or 'low'. People used the small mark ` placed above a vowel to show a lower or more open sound, so the mark tells you how to 'pronounce' the vowel.