Diacritic

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Diacritic \Di`a*crit"ic\, Diacritical \Di`a*crit"ic*al\, a. [Gr.
     ?, fr. ? to separate, distinguish; dia` through + ? to
     separate. See {Critic}.]
     That separates or distinguishes; -- applied to points or
     marks used to distinguish letters of similar form, or
     different sounds of the same letter, as, [=a], [a^], [aum],


     [=o], [o^], etc. "Diacritical points." --Sir W. Jones.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           A glance at this typography will reveal great
           difficulties, which diacritical marks necessarily throw
           in the way of both printer and writer.   --A. J. Ellis.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  diacritic
       adj : capable of distinguishing; "students having superior
             diacritic powers"; "the diacritic elements in culture"-
             S.F.Nadel [syn: {diacritical}]
       n : a mark added to a letter to indicate a special pronunciation
           [syn: {diacritical mark}]