umlaut

[ oom-lout ]

noun
  1. Phonetics, Orthography. a diacritic (¨) used over a vowel, as ä, ö, ü, to indicate a vowel sound different from that of the letter without the diacritic, especially as so used in German.: Compare dieresis (def. 2).

  2. Also called vowel mutation .Linguistics, Phonetics. (in Germanic languages) assimilation in which a vowel is influenced by a following vowel or semivowel.

verb (used with object)
  1. Linguistics, Phonetics. to modify by umlaut.

  2. Phonetics, Orthography. to write an umlaut over.

Origin of umlaut

1
1835–45; <German, equivalent to um- about, around + Laut sound

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British Dictionary definitions for umlaut

umlaut

/ (ˈʊmlaʊt) /


noun
  1. the mark (¨) placed over a vowel in some languages, such as German, indicating modification in the quality of the vowel: Compare diaeresis

  2. (esp in Germanic languages) the change of a vowel within a word brought about by the assimilating influence of a vowel or semivowel in a preceding or following syllable

Origin of umlaut

1
C19: German, from um around (in the sense of changing places) + Laut sound

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012