tilde

American  

[til-duh] / ˈtɪl də /

noun

1. Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (~) placed over an n, as in Spanish mañana, to indicate a palatal nasal sound or over a vowel, as in Portuguese são, to indicate nasalization.

2. swung dash.

3. Mathematics. a symbol (∼) indicating equivalency or similarity between two values.

4. Logic. a similar symbol indicating negation.

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tilde British  

/ ˈtɪldə /

noun

1. the diacritical mark (~) placed over a letter to indicate a palatal nasal consonant, as in Spanish señor. This symbol is also used in the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent any nasalized vowel

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Etymology

Origin of tilde

1860–65; < Spanish < Latin titulus superscription. See title

Explanation

A tilde is a character on a keyboard that looks like a wavy line (~). The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters instead of the English 26, because it includes both n and ñ, each of which is pronounced differently. The tilde has other uses as well. It is a diacritical mark in other languages, such as Portuguese, but it is also used in logic and math. When you put a tilde before a number, for example, you're saying that the number is approximate. If you wanted to say that your club had about $1,500 in the bank, you could use a tilde to write that the club had ~$1,500.

Example Sentences

When Pitbull did an update in 2011, “Shake Senora,” he pronounced the tilde.

From New York Times • Apr. 26, 2023

The correct Spanish pronunciation of “Angeleño” is “Ahn-hell-len-yo,” as dictated by the tilde, the diacritical mark above the second n.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 27, 2022

At the beginning of each episode, Saldaña's name is shown with a tilde over the n.

From Reuters • Oct. 20, 2021

Designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the shape of the tilde above the “a” in São Paulo, the Copan celebrated its 50th birthday last year with middle age starting to take its toll.

From The Guardian • Nov. 30, 2017

The tilde has been restored in those Spanish words that use it.

From Anting-Anting Stories And other Strange Tales of the Filipinos by Kayme, Sargent