Definition

1. Noun:
   • A diacritical mark: In linguistics, an umlaut is a mark consisting of two dots (¨) placed over a vowel, most notably in German and some other languages, to indicate a specific change in its pronunciation.
   • A sound change: The term also refers to the historical or grammatical process in which a vowel's sound is altered, often due to the influence of a vowel in a following syllable.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Diacritical Mark):
• Noun (Sound Change Process):

Advanced Usage

• "To umlaut" (verb, rare/technical): To modify a vowel sound or to place an umlaut mark on a vowel.
• "Umlauted" (adjective): Describing a vowel that has undergone this change or bears the mark.

Variants and Related Words

• Diaeresis (or dieresis): A diacritical mark identical in form (¨) but with a different function. It indicates that two adjacent vowels are to be pronounced separately (e.g., "naïve"), not as a single sound or diphthong.
• Metaphony: A broader linguistic term for vowel assimilation, of which umlaut is a specific type.

Synonyms

• Vowel mutation: A more general term for a change in vowel sound.
• Vowel fronting: Describes the articulatory effect of many umlaut processes.

Related Phrases

(This word does not commonly form phrasal verbs or idioms in English.)

Related Idioms

(This word is technical and is not typically used in idiomatic expressions.)

Noun

1. a diacritical mark (two dots) placed over a vowel in German to indicate a change in sound