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

The letter e with a macron is represented as ē.

From Bakemono Yashiki (The Haunted House), Retold from the Japanese Originals Tales of the Tokugawa, Volume 2 by De Benneville, James S. (James Seguin)

Index: The name 'Yosōgi' had the macron over the first o instead of the second one, inconsistent with the other index listing and the chapter text, so the index entry was corrected.

From The Foundations of Japan Notes Made During Journeys Of 6,000 Miles In The Rural Districts As A Basis For A Sounder Knowledge Of The Japanese People by Scott, J.W. Robertson

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

There are also single instances of the letters m and x with macron and two instances of letter n with macron.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Wells A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See by Dearmer, Percy

The diphthong oe is represented by Œ and œ; "y" with a circumflex above by "ŷ"; "o" with a macron above by Ō and ō.

From The Curse of Koshiu A Chronicle of Old Japan by Wingfield, Lewis