Meaning of Umlaut | Babel Free

Definitions

1. An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants.
2. The umlaut process (as above) that occurred historically in Germanic languages whereby back vowels became front vowels when followed by syllable containing a front vocoid (e.g. Germanic lūsiz > Old English lȳs(i) > Modern English lice).
3. A vowel so assimilated.
4. The diacritical mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel when it indicates a (rounded) front vowel
5. Synonym of diaeresis.
   informal

Equivalents

Examples

“In fits of concealed despair that went unnoticed even by those close enough to touch, Julien cursed the language of umlauts, eszetts, and gerunds.”

“A tittle is more or less the same thing (the dot over an i, for instance), except that it can be traced back to Medieval Latin for a little mark over or under a letter, such as an accent ague or a cedilla. I don't know whether an umlaut is one or two tittles. Maybe it's a jot and a tittle side by side.”

“"Naïve" takes an umlaut because it is pronounced as two syllables.”

“California, like several other states, prohibits the use of diacritical marks or accents on official documents. That means no tilde (~), no accent grave (`), no umlaut (¨) and certainly no cedilla (¸).”

“The Traveler said he would like some “Oast” with an ümlaut over the “o.” He traveled on and asked for “Kase” and they brought him the same thing. Then he went to France and asked for “Fromage.” What was he eating?”

“>> >...with to dots over the "o". that would be an ümlaut......”

“The German 'ä' is really an 'a' with an ümlaut, while the Swedish 'ä' is a separate letter closely related to the Danish letter 'æ' (which incidentally is not the same as the 'ae' ligature).”

“>> >You just had to mention Doppelgangland again to show us you were spelling it correctly now, right, John? :) You're still spelling it wrong. The "a" needs an ümlaut: Doppelgänger”

CEFR level