macron
A short, straight, horizontal diacritical mark (◌̄) placed over a letter, usually to indicate that the pronunciation of a vowel is long.
Noun
- A short, straight, horizontal diacritical mark (◌̄) placed over a letter, usually to indicate that the pronunciation of a vowel is long.
- We say such words belong to a Long family, because of the long macron hat the vowels wear. Like the other twin o's, one hat is enough for both, for these twins are always found together. - 1889, Rebecca S[mith] Pollard,...
- A macron is a mark placed above a long vowel to mark its quantity. - 1974, Floyd L. Moreland, Rita M. Fleischer, Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page 13:
- All vowels are pronounced short unless marked with a ¯ (macron) over them. So observe different vowel length of ‘i ’ in, e.g., fīlia, etc. It may be helpful, but is not essential, to mark macra in your exercises. -...
Hypernyms: bar
Coordinate Terms: solidus vinculum long-vowel mark overline overbar overscore ◌̅
Origin
From Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón), neuter form of μακρός (makrós, “long”) (English macro-).