german words in english with diacritical marks

Words and expressions that are less well established in English, such as piñata (from Spanish), raison d’être (from French) and açai (from Portuguese), generally include their original diacritics. *The Spanish character eñe ( ñ) is considered a letter in its own right, while the ˜ symbol in other contexts is a diacritic known as a tilde. These borrowings sometimes come with diacritics, including the following common symbols: Many languages make extensive use of diacritics, and English has absorbed a steady stream of foreign words and expressions throughout its development, particularly from French. But is this acceptable practice? If not, can we at least dispense with some of them? Read on to find out. The term accent specifically refers to a subclass of some of the more common diacritics.īecause they are uncommon and may be difficult to enter using a standard English keyboard, writers might be tempted to omit them. Although many people call them accents, the correct name for these symbols is diacritic mark or simply diacritic. The reason for this is no mystery they have never been a prominent part of the English writing system, unlike most languages that use a Latin script. To many speakers of English, there is something distinctly foreign about those small symbols that accompany letters in words like piñata, café, and many more.

German words in english with diacritical marks