diaeresis
2 synonyms and 1 antonym for diaeresis, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — In linguistics, the splitting of what would normally be one syllable, especially a diphthong, into two separate syllables, or a gap between vowel sounds in neighbouring syllables with no consonant between them.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. noun linguistics
In linguistics, the splitting of what would normally be one syllable, especially a diphthong, into two separate syllables, or a gap between vowel sounds in neighbouring syllables with no consonant between them.
“Poets sometimes rely on diaeresis to stretch a diphthong into two beats for the metre.”
Opposites
2. noun orthography
The mark of two dots placed over a vowel, usually the second of two vowels in a row, to show that it is pronounced as its own syllable.
“The word naïve is sometimes written with a diaeresis over the i.”
How to use diaeresis
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Diaeresis is a fairly technical or literary term, and the mark itself is now often left out in ordinary English writing.
Etymology
Diaeresis was taken directly into English from Late Latin diaeresis, itself from Ancient Greek dĭaíresĭs, meaning a distribution or division, and specifically the splitting of a diphthong into two syllables. That Greek noun comes from the verb dĭairéō, to divide or distinguish, built from a prefix meaning across or in...
Full origin of diaeresis →