dieresis
Americannoun
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Linguistics, Phonetics. the separation of two adjacent vowels, dividing one syllable into two.
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Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (¨) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate separate pronunciation, as in one spelling of the older forms naïve and coöperate: no longer widely used in English.
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Prosody. the division made in a line or verse by coincidence of the end of a foot and the end of a word.
noun
Other Word Forms
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Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dieresis
1605–15; < Latin diaeresis < Greek diaíresis literally, distinction, division, equivalent to diaire-, stem of diaireîn to divide ( di- di- 3 + haireîn to take) + -sis -sis
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Dieresis is unpredictable; forms such as “Alcathöe” and “Pirithöus” are common, and have been silently corrected.
From The Metamorphoses of Ovid Literally Translated into English Prose, with Copious Notes and Explanations by Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas)
When use the Dieresis instead of the Hyphen?
From 1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading by Hathaway, B. A.
Give an example of the use of the Dieresis.
From 1001 Questions and Answers on Orthography and Reading by Hathaway, B. A.
Dieresis is unpredictable in both editions; forms such as “Phaeton”, “Ocyrrhöe” and “Danäe” are common, and have been silently corrected.
From The Metamorphoses of Ovid Vol. I, Books I-VII by Riley, Henry T. (Henry Thomas)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
