acute accent

noun

A diacritical mark ( ´ ) that can be placed above a number of letters in many languages of the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic writing systems.

Similar
acuteaigu
OriginLatin accentus ← Ancient Greek προσῳδία →
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Meanings

nounacute accent (plural acute accents)

plural acute accents

  1. communicationsA diacritical mark ( ´ ) that can be placed above a number of letters in many languages of the Latin, Greek and Cyrillic writing systems.

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna mark placed above a vowel to indicate pronunciation

Similar
acuteaigu
Broader
accentaccent mark
Also see
acute

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekπροσῳδία“accent”
  2. Latinaccentus“accent”
  3. Englishacute accent

From Latin accentus (“accent”) acūtus (“sharp”), a calque of Ancient Greek προσῳδία (prosōidía, “accent”) ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp”). Cognate to French accent aigu.

More words from Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Ancient Greek ὀξεῖα
  • ὀξεῖα (oxeîa)acute accent
Arabic نَبْرَة حَادَّة
  • نَبْرَة حَادَّة (nabra ḥādda)acute accent
Bulgarian аку́т, окси́я
  • аку́т (akút)acute accent
  • окси́я (oksíja)acute accent
  • о́стро ударе́ние (óstro udarénie)acute accent
Catalan accent agut
  • accent agutacute accent
Chinese Mandarin 尖音符
  • 尖音符 (jiānyīnfú)acute accent
Czech čárka
  • čárkaacute accent
Esperanto dekstra korno, akuto
  • dekstra kornoacute accent
  • akutoacute accent
Estonian rõhumärk, akuut
  • rõhumärkacute accent
  • akuutacute accent
Finnish akuuttiaksentti, akuutti
  • akuuttiaksenttiacute accent
  • akuuttiacute accent
French accent aigu
  • accent aiguacute accent
German Akut
  • Akutacute accent
Greek οξεία
  • οξεία (oxeía)acute accent
Hungarian éles ékezet
  • éles ékezetacute accent
Icelandic broddur, broddur yfir bókstöfum
  • brodduracute accent
  • broddur yfir bókstöfumacute accent
Irish síneadh fada, agúid
  • síneadh fadaacute accent
  • agúidacute accent
Italian accento acuto
  • accento acutoacute accent
Japanese アキュート・アクセント
  • アキュート・アクセント (akyūto-akusento)acute accent
Korean 양음 부호
  • 양음 부호 (yang'eum buho)acute accent
Norwegian Bokmål akutt, akutt aksent
  • akuttacute accent
  • akutt aksentacute accent
  • akutt-tegnacute accent
  • accent aiguacute accent
Polish akcent ostry, akcent akutowy
  • akcent ostryacute accent
  • akcent akutowyacute accent
  • akutacute accent
Portuguese acento agudo
  • acento agudoacute accent
Russian аку́т, окси́я
  • аку́т (akút)acute accent
  • окси́я (oksíja)acute accent
  • о́строе ударе́ние (óstroje udarénije)acute accent
Slovak dĺžeň, ostrý prízvuk
  • dĺžeňacute accent
  • ostrý prízvukacute accent
Spanish tilde, acento agudo
  • tildeacute accent
  • acento agudoacute accent
Swedish akut accent
  • akut accentacute accent
Tagalog pahilis
  • pahilisacute accent
Turkish tiz vurgu
  • tiz vurguacute accent
Ukrainian аку́т
  • аку́т (akút)acute accent
Vietnamese dấu sắc
  • dấu sắcacute accent
Welsh acen ddyrchafedig
  • acen ddyrchafedigacute accent
Cite this entry
APA

acute accent. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acute%20accent

MLA

“acute accent.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acute%20accent. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “acute accent,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/acute%20accent.

Source: acute accent on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.