| Definition: A diacritic placed over a vowel to indicate that the vowel should be pronounced separately from the preceding letter. |
| Example: In the word coöperate, the ¨ indicates that the word has four syllables. |
| Etymology: The word derives from the Greek diairein, to divide or separate (from dia, apart + hairein, to take). |
Oxford English Dictionary: The first OED citation for the word in this sense is from 1611: "Diæresis is when two points ouer a vowell diuide it from another vowell, as bouë, queuë."
(Cotgr. Nnnn) |