diaeresis

  1. Noun.  (orthography) A diacritic placed over a vowel letter indicating that it is sounded separately, usually forming a distinct syllable, as in (term, ) , (term, ) , (term, ) .
  2. Noun.  (linguistics, prosody) The separation of a vowel, often a diphthong, into two distinct syllables.
  3. Noun.  (prosody) A natural break in rhythm when a word ends at the end of a metrical foot, in a line of verse.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.