Visually identical to the diaeresis but used in Germanic languages to change vowel quality, often seen in band names like Motörhead for aesthetic flair. ⌨️ How to Type Them Quickly
Using a diacritic often signals that a word is a "loanword" from another language (e.g., frappé or açai ). diacritic
They distinguish words that look identical, like the verb resume (to start again) vs. the noun résumé (a CV). Visually identical to the diaeresis but used in
A —often called an accent mark—is a small glyph added to a letter to change its sound or distinguish it from a similar word. While common in languages like French, Spanish, and German, they also play a subtle but important role in English. 📍 Common Diacritics You See Every Day the noun résumé (a CV)
If you don't have a dedicated keyboard, you can use these shortcuts in or Outlook : Key Shortcut Acute Ctrl + ' , then letter á, é, ó Grave Ctrl + ` , then letter Tilde Ctrl + Shift + ~ , then letter Umlaut Ctrl + Shift + : , then letter Cedilla Ctrl + , , then c 💡 Why They Matter
Indicates stress or a specific vowel sound, as in résumé or café .
Changes a hard "k" sound to a soft "s," found in façade or garçon .