macron

See also: macrón, mácron, and Macron

English

WOTD – 8 May 2017

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón), neuter form of μακρός (makrós, long) (English macro-).

Pronunciation

Noun

Examples
  • Latin pōpulus (poplar tree, indicates vowel length)
  • Mandarin chūzūchē (taxi, indicates first tone)

macron (plural macrons or macra)

  1. (orthography) A short, straight, horizontal diacritical mark (¯) placed over any of various letters, usually to indicate that the pronunciation of a vowel is long. [from 19th c.]
    Antonyms: breve, micron
    Coordinate terms: solidus, vinculum
    • 1889, Rebecca S[mith] Pollard, A Complete Manual: Pollard’s Synthetic Method of Reading and Spelling. Designed to Accompany Synthetic Readers and Spellers, New York, N.Y.: American Book Company, OCLC 18708150, page 75:
      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.
    • 1974, Floyd L. Moreland & Rita M. Fleischer, Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page 13:
      A macron is a mark placed above a long vowel to mark its quantity.
    • 1986, Peter V. Jones; Keith C. Sidwell, “Introduction”, in Reading Latin, volume 1 (Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 2, general note 1:
      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.

Usage notes

The plural macra is rare.

Translations

Further reading

Anagrams


Dutch

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmaː.krɔn/
  • (file)
  • (file)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón), neuter form of μακρός (makrós, long).

Noun

macron m (plural macrons, diminutive macrontje n)

  1. (orthography) macron

Hypernyms

  • diakriet

French

Etymology

From Ancient Greek

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ma.kʁɔ̃/
  • (file)

Noun

macron m (plural macrons)

  1. macron

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek

Noun

macron m (invariable)

  1. macron
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