Meanings
plural circumflexes
- A diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.
Synonyms: circumflex accent
- Having a circumflex mark.
ê is e circumflex.
- Curving around.
The circumflex coronary artery
present singular third person circumflexes · participle present circumflexing · participle past circumflexed · past circumflexed
- To mark or pronounce with a circumflex.
to circumflex a syllable
1 more example
those words […]circumflexed on the last syllabe
1791, John Walker, Critical Pronouncing Dictionary - obsoleteTo arch.
A venerable old man sitting in a chaire, with a severe aspect, wrinkled forehead, circumflex't eie-browes, great white curled beard.
1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 105
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.
Origin
- Latincircumflexus“bent about”
- Englishcircumflex
Learned borrowing from Latin circumflexus (“bent about”), calqued from Ancient Greek περισπώμενος (perispṓmenos, “drawn around”).
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans sirkumfleks, kappie
- sirkumflekscircumflex accent
- kappiecircumflex accent
Ancient Greek περισπωμένη, ὀξύβαρις
- περισπωμένη (perispōménē)circumflex accent
- ὀξύβαρις (oxúbaris)circumflex accent
Bulgarian циркумфле́кс, обиколен
- циркумфле́кс (cirkumfléks)circumflex accent
- обиколен (obikolen)curving around
Catalan circumflex, circumflex
- circumflexcircumflex accent
- circumflexwith circumflex accent
Chinese Mandarin 抑揚音符 /抑扬音符, 抑揚符 /抑扬符
- 抑揚音符 /抑扬音符 (yìyáng yīnfú)circumflex accent
- 抑揚符 /抑扬符 (yìyángfú)circumflex accent
Czech stříška, vokáň
- stříškacircumflex accent
- vokáňcircumflex accent
Danish cirkumfleks
- cirkumflekscircumflex accent
Dutch accent circonflexe, circonflexe
- accent circonflexecircumflex accent
- circonflexecircumflex accent
- circumflexcircumflex accent
- dakjecircumflex accent
Esperanto ĉapelo, cirkumflekso
- ĉapelocircumflex accent
- cirkumfleksocircumflex accent
Finnish sirkumfleksi, kiertävä
- sirkumfleksicircumflex accent
- kiertäväcurving around
- sirkumfleksi-with circumflex accent
- merkitä sirkumfleksillato mark or pronounce with circumflex
French circonflexe, accent circonflexe
- circonflexecircumflex accent
- accent circonflexecircumflex accent
- circonflexewith circumflex accent
German Zirkumflex, Accent circonflexe
- Zirkumflexcircumflex accent
- Accent circonflexecircumflex accent
- Dachakzentcircumflex accent
- Dachcircumflex accent
- Dächelchencircumflex accent
- Dacherlcircumflex accent
Hebrew גַּג
- גַּג (gag)circumflex accent
Hungarian kúpos ékezet, hajtott ékezet
- kúpos ékezetcircumflex accent
- hajtott ékezetcircumflex accent
- csúcsos ékezetcircumflex accent
- circumflexcircumflex accent
- háztetőcircumflex accent
Icelandic hattur
- hatturcircumflex accent
Indonesian sirkumfleks
- sirkumflekscircumflex accent
Irish cuairín
- cuairíncircumflex accent
Italian accento circonflesso, circonflesso
- accento circonflessocircumflex accent
- circonflessocircumflex accent
- circonflessocurving around
- arcuatocurving around
- incurvatocurving around
- circonflessowith circumflex accent
- circonflettereto mark or pronounce with circumflex
Japanese サーカムフレックス
- サーカムフレックス (sākamufurekkusu)circumflex accent
Korean 곡절 부호, 서컴플렠스
- 곡절 부호 (gokjeol buho)circumflex accent
- 서컴플렠스 (seokeompeullekseu)circumflex accent
Latvian cirkumflekss
- cirkumfleksscircumflex accent
Malay sirkumfleks
- sirkumflekscircumflex accent
Norwegian Bokmål cirkumfleks, sirkumfleks
- cirkumflekscircumflex accent
- sirkumflekscircumflex accent
- accent circonflexecircumflex accent
Polish daszek
- daszekcircumflex accent
Portuguese circunflexo, acento circunflexo
- circunflexocircumflex accent
- acento circunflexocircumflex accent
- circunflexocurving around
- circunflexowith circumflex accent
Romanian accent circumflex
- accent circumflexcircumflex accent
Russian циркумфле́кс
- циркумфле́кс (cirkumfléks)circumflex accent
Slovak vokáň, cirkumflex
- vokáňcircumflex accent
- cirkumflexcircumflex accent
Spanish circunflejo, circunflejo
- circunflejocircumflex accent
- circunflejocurving around
- circunflejowith circumflex accent
Swedish cirkumflex
- cirkumflexcircumflex accent
Tagalog pakupya
- pakupyacircumflex accent
Turkish sirkonfleks, düzeltme işareti
- sirkonflekscircumflex accent
- düzeltme işareticircumflex accent
- şapkacircumflex accent
- şapka işareticircumflex accent
- şapkalıwith circumflex accent
Vietnamese dấu mũ, mũ
- dấu mũcircumflex accent
- mũwith circumflex accent
Welsh to bach, acen grom
- to bachcircumflex accent
- acen gromcircumflex accent
- hirnodcircumflex accent
Cite this entry
circumflex. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/circumflex
“circumflex.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/circumflex. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “circumflex,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/circumflex.
Source: circumflex on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.