Diacritic Apr 2026

A —often called an accent mark—is a small glyph added to a letter to change its sound or distinguish it from a similar word. While common in languages like French, Spanish, and German, they also play a subtle but important role in English. 📍 Common Diacritics You See Every Day

Using a diacritic often signals that a word is a "loanword" from another language (e.g., frappé or açai ). diacritic

If you don't have a dedicated keyboard, you can use these shortcuts in or Outlook : Key Shortcut Acute Ctrl + ' , then letter á, é, ó Grave Ctrl + ` , then letter Tilde Ctrl + Shift + ~ , then letter Umlaut Ctrl + Shift + : , then letter Cedilla Ctrl + , , then c 💡 Why They Matter A —often called an accent mark—is a small

Indicates a nasalized sound or a "ny" blend, common in jalapeño . If you don't have a dedicated keyboard, you

They distinguish words that look identical, like the verb resume (to start again) vs. the noun résumé (a CV).

Indicates stress or a specific vowel sound, as in résumé or café .

Shows that two vowels are pronounced separately rather than as a blend, seen in naïve or Brontë .