circumflex

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin circumflexus (“bent about”), calqued from Ancient Greek περισπώμενος (perispṓmenos, “drawn around”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝ.kəmˌflɛks/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

circumflex (plural circumflexes)

2. 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.

   Synonym: circumflex accent

Derived terms

• inverted circumflex

Translations

circumflex accent

Afrikaans: sirkumfleks, kappie Bulgarian: циркумфле́кс m (cirkumfléks) Catalan: circumflex m Chinese: Mandarin: 抑揚音符 / 抑扬音符 (yìyáng yīnfú), 抑揚符 / 抑扬符 (yìyángfú) Czech: stříška (cs) f, vokáň Danish: cirkumfleks c Dutch: accent circonflexe (nl) n, circonflexe (nl) m, circumflex (nl) m, dakje (nl) n (informal) Esperanto: ĉapelo, cirkumflekso (proscribed) Finnish: sirkumfleksi (fi) French: circonflexe (fr) m, accent circonflexe (fr) m Galician: circunflexo (gl) m German: (general) Zirkumflex (de) m; (chiefly of French) Accent circonflexe (de) m; (informal) Dach (de) n Greek: Ancient: περισπωμένη f (perispōménē), ὀξύβαρις f (oxúbaris) Hebrew: גַּג (he) m (gag) Hungarian: kúpos ékezet, hajtott ékezet, csúcsos ékezet, circumflex (hu), (somewhat informal) háztető (hu) Icelandic: hattur (is) m Indonesian: sirkumfleks (id) Irish: cuairín m Italian: accento circonflesso m, circonflesso (it) m Japanese: サーカムフレックス (sākamufurekkusu) Korean: 곡절 부호 (gokjeol buho) Latvian: cirkumflekss Malay: sirkumfleks Norwegian: Bokmål: cirkumfleks (no) m, sirkumfleks (no) m, accent circonflexe m Nynorsk: cirkumfleks m, sirkumfleks m, accent circonflexe m (French) Polish: daszek (pl) m Portuguese: circunflexo (pt) m, acento circunflexo (pt) m Romanian: accent circumflex (ro) f Russian: циркумфле́кс (ru) m (cirkumfléks) Slovak: vokáň, cirkumflex m Spanish: circunflejo (es) m Sranan Tongo: topimarki Swedish: cirkumflex (sv) c Tagalog: pakupya Turkish: sirkonfleks, düzeltme işareti (tr), şapka (tr), şapka işareti (tr) Vietnamese: dấu mũ Volapük: sirkumfleg Welsh: to bach m, acen grom f, hirnod m West Frisian: breedteken n

Adjective

circumflex

1. Having a circumflex mark.

   ê is e circumflex.

2. Curving around.

   The circumflex coronary artery

Translations

with circumflex accent

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Catalan: circumflex Finnish: sirkumfleksi- (fi) French: circonflexe (fr) Ido: circuflexio Italian: circonflesso (it) Ligurian: circonflèsso Portuguese: circunflexo (pt) Spanish: circunflejo (es) Vietnamese: mũ (vi) Volapük: sirkumflegik

curving around

Bulgarian: обиколен (bg) (obikolen) Finnish: kiertävä (fi) Italian: circonflesso (it), arcuato (it), incurvato (it) Norwegian: Bokmål: please add this translation if you can Portuguese: circunflexo (pt) Spanish: circunflejo (es)

Verb

circumflex (third-person singular simple present circumflexes, present participle circumflexing, simple past and past participle circumflexed)

1. To mark or pronounce with a circumflex.

   to circumflex a syllable

   • 1791, John Walker, Critical Pronouncing Dictionary:

     those words […] circumflexed on the last syllabe

2. (obsolete) To arch.
   • 1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 105:

     A venerable old man sitting in a chaire, with a severe aspect, wrinkled forehead, circumflex't eie-browes, great white curled beard.

Translations

to mark or pronounce with circumflex

Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can Finnish: merkitä sirkumfleksilla (to mark) Italian: circonflettere (it) Norwegian: Bokmål: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• circumflex on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Catalan

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin circumflexus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [sir.kumˈflɛks]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [siɾ.kumˈflɛks]

Noun

circumflex m (plural circumflexos)

1. circumflex

Derived terms

• anticircumflex

Further reading

• “circumflex”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

circumflex m or n (plural circumflexen, no diminutive)

1. circumflex

Further reading

• “circumflex” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin circumflexus or French circonflexe.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃir.kumˈfleks/

Adjective

circumflex m or n (feminine singular circumflexă, masculine plural circumflecși, feminine/neuter plural circumflexe)

1. circumflex

Declension

Declension of circumflex

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	circumflex		circumflexă		circumflecși	circumflexe
	definite	circumflexul		circumflexa		circumflecșii	circumflexele
genitive- dative	indefinite	circumflex		circumflexe		circumflecși	circumflexe
	definite	circumflexului		circumflexei		circumflecșilor	circumflexelor

Further reading

• “circumflex”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025