cedilla

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

cedilla

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Spanish cedilla (literally “little zed”), c. 1600. In Spanish cedilla referred to the letter ⟨Ç⟩, which had evolved from ⟨Ꝣ⟩, a Visigothic form of the letter Z (called a Z with copete); hence the name. The lower part of ⟨Ç⟩ (which came to be reinterpreted as a diacritical mark under a C) is the remnant of the original Z, after it gradually reduced in size; whereas the upper part was originally just an ornamentation over the Z (which increased in size until it resembled letter C, and finally came to be identified with this letter).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈdɪlə/, enPR: sə-dĭʹlə

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlə

Noun

cedilla (plural cedillas)

¸ Ç ç

1. (orthography) In the spelling of Catalan, French, Portuguese and some other languages, a mark ⟨¸⟩ sometimes placed under the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced /s/ rather than /k/, as in Catalan força, French menaçant, and Portuguese almoço, and also used in various other languages to change the sounds of other letters.

   Synonyms: (dated) cedille, cédille

Usage notes

Sometimes retained in words which have been adopted into English, specifically from French, such as facade/façade.

Translations

mark placed under the letter c

Arabic: سِدِيلَا f (sidīlā) Belarusian: цэды́ллю (cedýllju) Catalan: trencat (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 軟音符 / 软音符 (zh) (ruǎnyīnfú) Czech: cedilla f Dutch: cedille (nl) Esperanto: subhoko, zoeto, cedilo Finnish: sedilji (fi) French: cédille (fr) f German: Cedille (de) f Hungarian: cédille (hu), cedilla (hu), (somewhat informal) bal farok, (informal) farkinca (hu), (informal) akasztó (hu) Ido: cedilio (io) Indonesian: cedilla Irish: straithín m Italian: cediglia (it) f Japanese: セディーユ (sedīyu) Korean: 세디유 (sediyu) Manx: seddag f, straihleen m Occitan: cedilha (oc) f Polish: cedylla (pl) f Portuguese: cedilha (pt) f Romanian: sedilă (ro) f Russian: седи́ль (ru) f (sedílʹ) Spanish: cedilla (es) f Swedish: cedilj (sv) c

See also

• ç
• ogonek

Anagrams

• cleidal

Indonesian

Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:

cedilla

Wikipedia ^id

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish cedilla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃe.dɪl.la/
• Rhymes: -la
• Hyphenation: ce‧dil‧la

Noun

cedilla (plural cedilla-cedilla)

1. (orthography) cedilla

Further reading

• “cedilla” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish ceda (“letter Z”) +‎ -illa (diminutive suffix); cognate with modern Spanish zeta.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /θeˈdiʝa/ [θeˈð̞i.ʝa] (Spain)

• IPA^(key): /θeˈdiʝa/ [θeˈð̞i.ʝa] (most of Spain)
• IPA^(key): /θeˈdiʎa/ [θeˈð̞i.ʎa] (rural northern Spain)

 

• IPA^(key): /seˈdiʝa/ [seˈð̞i.ʝa] (Latin America)

• IPA^(key): /seˈdiʝa/ [seˈð̞i.ʝa] (most of Latin America)
• IPA^(key): /seˈdiʎa/ [seˈð̞i.ʎa] (Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)

 

• IPA^(key): /seˈdiʃa/ [seˈð̞i.ʃa] (Latin America)

• IPA^(key): /seˈdiʃa/ [seˈð̞i.ʃa] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /seˈdiʒa/ [seˈð̞i.ʒa] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

 

• Rhymes: -iʝa

• Rhymes: -iʝa (most of Spain and Latin America)
• Rhymes: -iʎa (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -iʃa (Buenos Aires and environs)
• Rhymes: -iʒa (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

• Syllabification: ce‧di‧lla

Noun

cedilla f (plural cedillas)

1. name of the letter ç
2. (orthography) cedilla

Descendants

• → English: cedilla
• → French: cédille
  • → English: cédille
  • → Finnish: sedilji
  • → German: Cedille
• → Italian: cediglia
• → Portuguese: cedilha
• → Romanian: sedilă

Further reading

• “cedilla”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024