cedilla

American  

[si-dil-uh] / sɪˈdɪl ə /

noun

1. Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (¸) placed under a consonant letter, as under c in French, in Portuguese, and formerly in Spanish, to indicate that it is pronounced (s), under c and s in Turkish to indicate that they are pronounced, respectively, (ch) and (sh), or under t and s in Romanian to indicate that they are pronounced, respectively, (ts) and (sh).

2. Orthography. this mark used as a diacritic of arbitrary value in transliteration of words from non-Roman into Roman alphabetic characters.

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cedilla British  

/ sɪˈdɪlə /

noun

1. a character ( ¸ ) placed underneath a c before a, o, or u, esp in French, Portuguese, or Catalan, denoting that it is to be pronounced (s), not (k). The same character is used in the scripts of other languages, as in Turkish under s

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Etymology

Origin of cedilla

1590–1600; < Spanish variant spelling of zedilla little z, equivalent to zed ( a ) zed + -illa diminutive suffix; the mark was so called from its original form

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cedilla

As played by Katie Nigsch in this handsomely acted, mostly sleek Hub Theatre production, Margaret is visibly thrilled when she handles a cedilla during the course of a mini-show-and-tell.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2015

To make a C with a cedilla, for example, involved a lot more effort and thought than holding down the Option key on your Mac.

From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2011

Then Sandra spelled cedilla with an "s," and it was only because Jean flubbed papyraceous that Sandra was saved.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was usual to write instead of the z—c with a cedilla, and this was probably the origin of the mistake.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 344, June, 1844 by Various

The mark used to indicate the soft c is called the cedilla.

From Business English A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig

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