macron
nounUK /ˈmækɹɒn/ · US /ˈmeɪkɹɑn/
Etymology From Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón), neuter form of μακρός (makrós, “long”) (English macro-).
1
Communications, Journalism, Literature, Media, Orthography, Publishing, Writing A short, straight, horizontal diacritical mark (◌̄) placed over a letter, usually to indicate that the pronunciation of a vowel is long.
- We say such words belong to a Long family, because of the long macron hat the vowels wear. Like the other twin o's, one hat is enough for both, for these twins are always found together.1889, Rebecca S[mith] Pollard, A Complete Manual: Pollard’s Synthetic Method of Reading and Spelling. Designed to Accompany Synthetic Readers and Spellers, New York, N.Y.: American Book Company, →OCLC, page 75:
- A macron is a mark placed above a long vowel to mark its quantity.1974, Floyd L. Moreland, Rita M. Fleischer, Latin: An Intensive Course, University of California Press, page 13:
1 more example
- All vowels are pronounced short unless marked with a ¯ (macron) over them. So observe different vowel length of ‘i ’ in, e.g., fīlia, etc. It may be helpful, but is not essential, to mark macra in your exercises.1986, Peter V. Jones, Keith C. Sidwell, “Introduction”, in Reading Latin, volumes 1 (Grammar, Vocabulary and Exercises), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 2, general note 1:
- Derived terms
- macron below, macroned, macronized, macronless
- Related terms
- macro-