Circumflex

The circumflex (^), also known as the caret or "l'accent circonflexe" in French, is a diacritic used most commonly in French, but can also be seen in languages such as Slovak, Welsh, Portuguese, and Vietnamese.^[1] Its name is derived from the Latin circumflexus, meaning "bent around", referring to its shape, which resembles a little hat, placed over a vowel. Originally, the circumflex was an acute accent and a grave accent put together.

In French, the circumflex usually shows the loss of a letter, usually the loss of the letter S. Example: maistre (Middle French) > maître (modern French). From here, its function is historical. Furthermore, less often, it is used to distinguish between homophones. These are words spelt the same, but with different meanings. Example: sur = on, but sûr = safe or certain. In those cases, the pronunciation of the two words may be different.

In English, the circumflex is sometimes retained on loanwords. For example, crème brûlée.^[2]