macron

American  

[mey-kron, mak-ron] / ˈmeɪ krɒn, ˈmæk rɒn /

noun

Phonetics, Orthography.

1. a horizontal line used as a diacritic over a vowel to indicate that it has a long sound or other specified pronunciation, as (ā) in fate (fāt).

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macron British  

/ ˈmækrɒn /

noun

1. a diacritical mark (¯) placed over a letter, used in prosody, in the orthography of some languages, and in several types of phonetic respelling systems, to represent a long vowel

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Etymology

Origin of macron

1850–55; noun use of Greek makrón, neuter of makrós long. See macro-

Example Sentences

Letters in brackets with a = sign before it means that the letters have a macron over them, e.g.

From A Text-book of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. by Beringer, Cornelius

Use of the macron is not consistent throughout the text... ...and the spelling of some place names is not consistent either: e.g.

From A Peep into Toorkisthhan by Burslem, Rollo Gillespie

The same name may appear either with or without a macron or the macron may appear above different letters when the same name is printed in different places through the book.

From Japanese Fairy World Stories from the Wonder-Lore of Japan by Ozawa

Double vowels representing a single long sound are rare except in a few names; the macron on the first “u” in “Tronhūus” is redundant.

From Three in Norway by Two of Them by Clutterbuck, Walter J.

The letter "m" with a macron have been replaced by "mm" as there is no unicode symbol or symbol combination to display this character satisfactorily.

From Aphrodisiacs and Anti-aphrodisiacs: Three Essays on the Powers of Reproduction by Davenport, John