A

From the Etruscan letter 𐌀 (a), from the Ancient Greek letter Α (A, “alpha”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤀 (ʾ, “aleph”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓃾.

(linguistics) A wildcard for an open vowel


f

Modification of upper case Latin letter F, from Greek Ϝ (W, “Digamma”), from Phœnician 𐤅 (W, “waw”), the ultimate source being probably Egyptian.


i

Pronunciation of IPA [iː]

* (mathematics, imaginary number): abbreviation of imaginary
* (engineering, electric current): abbreviation of French intensité du courant first used by M. André-Marie Ampère
* (computer programming, generic index): abbreviation of index
* (linguistics): abbreviation of identity

(subscript, linguistics) indicates that two items are identical or coreferential (refer to the same thing). E.g. CVᵢCVᵢ means a sequence of consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel, where the two V's are the same vowel; Sallyᵢ ... sheᵢ means that 'she' refers to 'Sally'. A second identity may be indicated with j.


X

From the Etruscan letter 𐌗 (x, “ex”), from the Ancient Greek letter Χ (Kh, “chi”), created ex nihilo.

(linguistics) A wildcard for any sound (consonant, vowel or tone).


m

Pronunciation of IPA [mːɑː, ɑmmɑː] with the sound [m]

International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet

(phonetics) used in the International Phonetic Alphabet and in several romanization systems of non-Latin scripts to represent the voiced bilabial nasal (/m/), including Cyrillic м, the beginning of various kana including ま (ma), and Korean jamo ㅁ (mieum).


u

Pronunciation of IPA [uː]

(IPA, phonetics) a close back rounded vowel.


(phonetics) An unidentifiable or indeterminate segment.


Tenth century “West Arabic” variation of the Nepali form of Hindu-Arabic numeral ٠ (compare Devanāgarī script ० (0)), adopted for use with the Latin script in Europe. See 0 § History for more.

0̸

slashed zero, available only as a combination of Unicode characters, variation selector or through font features

(phonetics, often superscript) The pitch of a tone that is more extreme than 1 (higher or lower, depending on local convention; e.g. 0 is the highest tone in Chatino).

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) Lack of an inherent tone; the pitch depends on the tones of the surrounding syllables.


Tenth century “West Arabic” variation of the Nepali form of Hindu-Arabic numerals (compare Devanagari script १ (1, “éka”)), possibly influenced by Roman numeral Ⅰ, both ultimately from using a single stroke to represent the number one. See 1 § As a digit on WikipediaWikipedia for more.

(phonetics, often superscript) the pitch of a tone, either high or low depending on local convention; '1' is most commonly the highest or lowest pitch (but see 0)

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 1, typically identified with dark level yin ping (陰平). May simply be level ping tone (平) if the yin–yang distinction is not made.

Norwegian/Swedish toneme 1 is sometimes transcribed with a simple primary stress mark, that is ˈ.

(linguistics, superscript) accent 1 in Norwegian, Swedish and Limburgish.


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ३ (3)), from a cursive form of three lines to represent the number three. See 3 § Evolution of the Arabic digit for more.

, depending on other values

(phonetics, often superscript) the pitch of a tone, perhaps most commonly mid-pitch, but it may instead be high or low depending on local convention (e.g. the highest or lowest pitch if only the numbers 1–3 are used)

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 3, typically identified with dark rising yin shang (陰上). May be identified with departing qu tone (去) if the yin–yang distinction is not made.


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari २ (2)), from a cursive form of two lines to represent the number two. See 2 § Evolution for more.

, depending on other values

(phonetics, often superscript) the pitch of a tone, whose value depends on local convention (e.g. nearly as high or as low as 1, if four or more numbers are used; mid pitch if the numbers 1–3 are used; or contrasting with 1 if only '1' and '2' are used)

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 2, typically identified with light level yang ping (陽平). May be identified with rising shang tone (上) if the yin–yang distinction is not made.

Norwegian/Swedish toneme 2 has also been transcribed with a double stress mark, that is ⟨ˈˈ⟩, as well as ⟨ˇ⟩, ⟨˟⟩ and ⟨ˆ⟩.

(linguistics, superscript) accent 2 in Norwegian, Swedish and Limburgish.


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ४ (4)), a cursive form of four lines (to represent the number four) arranged in the shape of a cross (resembling +). See 4 § Evolution of the Hindu-Arabic digit for more.

, depending on other values

(phonetics, often superscript) The pitch of a tone, either high or low depending on local convention (though not as high or low as 5, if '5' is also used).

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) The tone number 4, typically identified with light rising yang shang (陽上). May be identified with entering ru tone (入) if the yin–yang distinction is not made.


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ५ (5)). See 5 § Evolution of the Arabic digit for more.

(phonetics, often superscript) the pitch of a tone, either high or low depending on local convention; '5' is most commonly the highest or lowest pitch (but see 6)

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 5, typically identified with dark departing yin qu (陰去)


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ६ (6)). See 6 § Evolution of the Hindu-Arabic digit for more.

(phonetics, often superscript) the pitch of a tone that is more extreme than 5; it will be higher or lower depending on local convention.

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 6, typically identified with light departing yang qu (陽去).


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ७ (7)). See 7 § Evolution of the Arabic digit for more.

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 7, typically identified with dark entering yin ru (陰入)


8 (number)
8#Evolution of the Arabic digit

A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ८ (8)). See 8 § Evolution of the Arabic digit for more.

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 8, typically identified with light entering yang ru (陽入)


A West Arabic numeral, ultimately from Indic numerals (compare Devanagari ९ (9)). See 9 § Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit for more.

(phonetics, Sinosphere, often superscript) tone number 9, in some cases when the language does not have the usual 4 to 8 categories.


π

(phonetics, rare) A voiceless labiodental plosive (p̪).


ɔ

(vowel): A turned-c as a convenient type for an open o.
(click): A rotated Xhosa dental click ⟨c⟩. Later identified as a rotated palatal stop [c], analogous to turned dental t ⟨ʇ⟩ for dental clicks and turned velar k ⟨ʞ⟩ for 'velar' clicks.

(phonetics, obsolete) base letter of the palatal click consonants; equivalent to IPA ⟨ǂ⟩.


ɣ

IPA

Attic Greek
Voiced velar fricative
voiced velar fricative

A Latin adaptation of the Ancient Greek and Modern Greek letter γ (“gamma”). In Greek, γ in most contexts represents a voiced velar fricative, and has done so since Koine Greek, which is why it was chosen as the IPA letter to represent that sound (in Ancient times, in Attic Greek, γ represented [ɡ], like the English g).

(doubled ligature) letter in Doke (1925) for a voiced lateral click.

(phonetics, obsolete) letter in Doke (1925) for a voiced dental click.


ɥ

IPA

*The Karlgren letter script y with a straight descender.

(phonetics) Karlgren's form of the Sinological letter ʮ.


ɕ

IPA

(phonetics, rare) the IPA affricate [t͡ɕ]


ɵ

IPA

(phonetics) a mid rounded reduced vowel.


The consonant of the reduplicating syllable is in general the first consonant of the root: thus, पप्रछ् paprach from √प्रछ् prach; शिश्रि çiçri from √श्रि çri; बुबुध् bubudh from √बुध्.

1889, W.D. Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar (in English), Breitkopf and Hartel, →OCLC, page 222:

Cratis = Reisig, Geflecht, Gitter, Schicht ist mit griech. κάρταλος = Korb, got. haúrds. nhd. Hürde u. s. w. von indog. √kerto = knüpfen, flechten abzuleiten ([…]), und hat sich auch mehrfach in den romanischen Sprachen erhalten, wie ital. grata = Gitter

1901, “Cratis”, in Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft (in German), page 1682:

Cratis = brushwood, mesh, lattice, layer is along with Greek κάρταλος = basket, Gothic haúrds, New High German Hürde, etc. from Indo-European √kerto = to tie, braid ( […] ), and has also been preserved several times in the Romance languages, like Italian grata = lattice

Té̆rîtek ⵜⵔⵜⴾ (√ ⵔⵜⴾ ertek « tomber verticalement ») ‖ F.

1940, C. de Foucauld, Dictionnaire abrégé touareg-français de noms propres (in French), page 333:

Té̆rîtek ⵜⵔⵜⴾ (√ ⵔⵜⴾ ertek "fall vertically") ‖ F.

Ma questa particolare accezione di kawn non ha alcun nesso speciale con l'India, perchè è della lingua araba usare √ KWN ora per l'«essere» (come in كان اللّه) e ora per il «divenire», e il greco fa lo stesso con √ γεν e il sanscrito con √ bhū (bhava, mondo, كون; svabhâva, essenza, كيان).

1946, Annali lateranensi pubblicazione del Pontificio museo missionario etnologico, volume 3 (in Italian), page 197:

But this particular sense of kawn does not have anything special to do with India, because it is (characteristic) of Arabic to use √ KWN sometimes for "being" (as in كان اللّه) and sometimes for "becoming", and Greek does the same with √ γεν and Sanskrit with √ bhū (bhava, world, كون; svabhâva, essence, كيان).

Consider Israeli מיקום mikúm 'locating', from מקמ √mqm 'locate', which derives from biblical Hebrew מקום [må‿qom] 'place', whose root is קומ √qwm 'stand'

2010, A. Yadin, G. Zuckermann, “ […] Ideological Secularization of Hebrew Terms […] ”, in T. Omoniyi, editor, The Sociology of Language and Religion (in English), Springer, →ISBN, page 87:

Реконструированный корень √mā, разумеется, не являлся единственным выразителем значения ’расти’ в праиндоевропейском.

2013, Илья Якубович, Новое в согдийской этимологии (in Russian), Litres, →ISBN, page 104:

The reconstructed root √mā, of course, was not the only expression of the meaning 'to grow' in Proto-Indo-European.

Rekonstruirovannyj korenʹ √mā, razumejetsja, ne javljalsja jedinstvennym vyrazitelem značenija ’rasti’ v praindojevropejskom.

Gebildet zu einer Wurzel √fqh, zu der insbesondere auch ein Verb faqaha „verstehen, begreifen“ gehört.

2021, Utz Maas, “Die Stärke einer Sprache […] ”, in I.C. del Toro, E. Hack-Cengizalp, editors, Literalität und Mehrsprachigkeit (in German), →ISBN, page 15:

Formed from a root √fqh, which also includes a verb faqaha "to understand, comprehend".

(linguistics) Used before text to indicate it is a root.


ĉ

(phonetics) Transcription in the Spanish tradition for [ʃ].


ĵ

(phonetics, French) The affricate sound of English j.


ŝ

(phonetics, French) The affricate sound [t͡s].

(phonetics) The 'closed' voiceless fricative in Circassian for which ⟨ᵷ⟩ was once proposed for the IPA.


ę

(phonetics) A nasal vowel [e]. The norm in Americanist notation; sometimes used in IPA transcription to leave room over the vowel letter for tone diacritics.


Coordinate term: **

English prepositions come before the associated noun: we say She lives in Rome, not *She lives Rome in.

Roots like *bep- were not allowed in Proto-Indo-European.

(descriptive linguistics) Used before a term (such as a word, phrase, or sentence) to show that it is grammatically incorrect, or in some other way ill-formed.

Coordinate term: **

It is posited that Proto-Indo-European *sneygʷʰos is the etymon of both Latin nix and English snow.

His theory of the Proto-Slavic *kъniga being ultimately derived from Chinese, via the middle form *kūinig, reflecting ancient routes of cultural influx from the East, has not gained a firm ground in the Slavicist circles in the last century.

(historical linguistics) Used before or after a term to denote that it is only hypothesized and not actually attested.

When used before a term: that the term has been reconstructed by a linguist, on the basis of comparative method or by comparing other reconstructed terms, as the plausible ancestor form of an existing, attested term in one or more languages.

PIE *ḱonk- yielded Vedic śaṅk-ate “worries, hesitates”, as well as pre-Germanic *kank-, whence also Gothic hāhan* “to hang”.

When used after a term: that the term is actually attested, but not in its citation form that is being mentioned.

Proto-Germanic had three unvoiced fricatives: */f/, */þ/, and */h/.

When used before a symbol representing a phoneme: that the phoneme is reconstructed on the basis of comparative method.

Proto-Germanic had three unvoiced fricatives, possibly representing *[ɸ], *[θ], and *[x].

When used before a symbol representing a sound value: that the sound value is hypothesized.


A cursive variation of ᾱ or ᾱᾱ, the abbreviation of Greek ἀνά (aná) used in recipes and prescriptions with the meaning "of each", and later extended to accounting. (Other explanations have that it is ā, an abbreviation of Latin ad (“to”), or French à (“to”).)

(phonetics) A pulse of laughter. (Thus @@@ is the transcription equivalent of ha! ha! ha! or hee! hee! hee! etc. in conventional orthography.)


black, adj: of the colour perceived in the absence of light. ~ eye: one that has been visibly bruised.

(lexicography) Replaces the headword in derivatives or example sentences, to save space.


ʆ

(phonetics) The 'closed' voiceless fricative in Circassian, commonly transcribed ⟨ŝ⟩ and for which ⟨ᵷ⟩ was once proposed for the IPA.


(Lithuanian dialectology) Marks a stressed short syllable.


(lexicography) Indicates that a syllable may have either primary stress, /ˈ/, or secondary stress, /ˌ/.


a

Pronunciation of IPA [aː]

(IPA, phonetics) an open front or central unrounded vowel.


B

(linguistics) A wildcard for a labial consonant

(linguistics) low tone (e.g. in French-language text)


C

* (element symbol, carbon): abbreviation
* (metrology, coulomb): abbreviation
* (computing, hexadecimal 12): From its position as the twelfth element of the series {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F}

(linguistics) A wildcard for a consonant


D

* (chemistry, deuterium): abbreviation of deuterium
* (computing, hexadecimal 13): From its position as the thirteenth element of the series {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F}
* (Germany): abbreviation of German word Deutschland (“Germany”)

(linguistics) A wildcard for an alveolar consonant


E

From the Etruscan letter 𐌄 (e, “e”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ε (E, “epsilon”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤄 (h, “he”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓀠.

synonyms: I

(linguistics) A wildcard for a front vowel


F

From the Etruscan letter 𐌅 (v, “ve”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ϝ (W, “digamma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤅 (w, “waw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏲.

synonyms: S for a sibilant fricative

(linguistics) A wildcard for a fricative

synonyms: more commonly HL, or more specifically HM or ML


G

From a modification of the Latin letter C (“ce”), from the Etruscan letter 𐌂 (c, “ce”), from the Ancient Greek letter Γ (G, “gamma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤂 (g, “giml”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌙.

(linguistics) A wildcard for a glide or semivowel


H

From the Etruscan letter 𐌇 (h, he), from the Ancient Greek letter Η (Ē, eta), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤇 (ḥ, het), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓈈 or maybe 𓉗.

Q for uvular consonants, Φ for pharyngeals

(linguistics) A wildcard for a glottal consonant or more broadly for a laryngeal consonant


I

From the Etruscan letter 𐌉 (i), from the Ancient Greek letter Ι (I, iota), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤉 (y, yod), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓂝.

synonyms: E for a front vowel, Ɨ for a high vowel

(linguistics) A wildcard for a front vowel or a high vowel


J

From a modification of the Latin letter I (“i”), from the Etruscan letter 𐌉 (i, “i”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ι (I, “iota”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤉 (y, “yod”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓂝.

(linguistics) A wildcard for a palatal consonant


K

From the Etruscan letter 𐌊 (k, “ka”), from the Ancient Greek letter Κ (K, “kappa”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤊 (k, “kap”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓂧.

(linguistics) A wildcard for a velar consonant

(linguistics) A wildcard for a consonant (e.g. in German-language texts)


L

From the Etruscan letter 𐌋 (l, “el”), from the Ancient Greek letter Λ (L, “lambda”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤋 (l, “lamed”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌅.

(linguistics) A wildcard for a lateral or liquid consonant


N

From the Etruscan letter 𐌍 (n, en), from the Ancient Greek letter Ν (N, nu), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤍 (n, nun), possibly from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓆓.

(linguistics) A wildcard for a nasal consonant (nasal stop)


O

From the Etruscan letter 𐌏 (o, “o”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ο (O, “omikron”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤏 (ʿ, “ʿayin”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓁹.

synonyms: U

(linguistics) A wildcard for a rounded vowel or a back vowel


P

From the Etruscan letter 𐌐 (p, “pe”), from the Ancient Greek letter Π (P, “pi”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤐 (p, “pe”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓂋.

synonyms: S for a 'stop'


Q

English: max Q

Ancient Greek language
Egyptian language
Etruscan language
Phoenician language
Q

From the Etruscan letter 𐌒 (q, “cu”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ϙ (Q, “qoppa”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤒 (q, “qop”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓃻.

(sometimes covers any guttural consonant)

(linguistics) A wildcard for a uvular consonant.

(linguistics, Japanese) Gemination as a phoneme.


R

From the Etruscan letter 𐌓 (r, “er”), from the Ancient Greek letter Ρ (R, “rho”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤓 (r, “reš”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓁶.

synonyms: S for a sonorant

(linguistics) A wildcard for a rhotic consonant or a resonant (sonorant).

(linguistics) A wildcard for a rhotic archiphoneme, such as the conflation of /r/ and /ɾ/ in certain positions in Spanish.

synonyms: more commonly LH, or more specifically LM or MH


S

From the Etruscan letter 𐌔 (s, “es”), from the Ancient Greek letter Σ (S, “sigma”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤔 (š, “šin”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓌒.

(linguistics) A wildcard for a sibilant; or sometimes ambiguously for a stop, fricative, sonorant or semivowel


T

From the Etruscan letter 𐌕 (t, “te”), from the Ancient Greek letter Τ (T, “tau”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤕 (t, “taw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏴.

(linguistics) a wildcard for a tone or stress level (the tonicity of a syllable)


U

From the Etruscan letter 𐌖 (u, “u”), from the Ancient Greek letter Υ (U, “ypsilon”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤅 (w, “waw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏲. Doublet of Y and V.

synonyms: O


V

From the Etruscan letter 𐌖 (u, “u”), from the Ancient Greek letter Υ (U, “ypsilon”), derived from the Phoenician letter 𐤅 (w, “waw”), from the Egyptian hieroglyph 𓏲. Doublet of Y and U.


Η

(textual criticism), the Alexandrian text-type (from Hesychius, its once-supposed editor).


There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One is that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus ⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.
Another theory is that it derives from overset Qo, an abbreviation of Latin quaestio (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.
There are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.

For the reversed question mark used in some right-to-left scripts

A superscript question mark will be used similarly to indicate that a sentence or constituent is questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason. A double superscript question mark indicates an even higher degree of questionability.
I have never { worked / been working } on a dissertation
This time tomorrow I { will / ^(??)am going to } be driving to London.

2006, Renaat Declerck, Susan Reed, Bert Cappelle, “The Grammar of the English Verb Phrase”, in The Grammar of the English Tense System, volume 1 (in English), →ISBN, page 6:

(linguistics) Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason.


(lexicography) Indicates antonyms of a word.


Slavic Phonetic Alphabet
Slavic Phonetic Alphabet#English

(phonetics) palatalization symbol in Slavic Phonetic Alphabet – more correctly the modifier letter ⟨ʹ⟩


In the modern sense as the equal sign, first attested in The Whetstone of Witte (1557) by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde, in which the two parallel lines expressed equality, because, as Recorde wrote, "bicauſe noe .2. thynges, can be moare equalle" ("because no two things can be more equal").

abbr

The whetstone of witte, whiche is the seconde parte of Arithmetike: containyng thextraction of Rootes: The Coßike practise, with the rule of Equation: and the woorkes of Surde Nombers

sheep pl. =

(lexicography) The same form as the headword.

(lexicography) Indicates synonyms of a word.

(linguistics) Indicates a clitic boundary.


(phonetics) See ˚ and ◌̊ for the ring, a diacritical mark.


head

† (English symbol name dagger or obelus)

dagger (English name symbol)
obelus (English name symbol)

Derives from the obelus, ⟨⸓⟩. Originally shaped like a dagger, it is now sometimes identical in shape to a Latin cross.

crux desperationis
crux desperationis#Translingual

(textual criticism, palaeography) crux critica, crux desperationis, used around a corrupt part of a text


ā

Āā Ǟǟ Ḇḇ C̄c̄ Ḏḏ Ēē Ḕḕ Ḗḗ Ḡḡ ẖ Īī Ḹḹ Ḻḻ Ṉṉ Ōō Ȫȫ Ṑṑ Ṓṓ R̄r̄ Ṝṝ Ṟṟ Ṯṯ Ūū Ǘǘ Ǖǖ Ṻṻ Ȳȳ Ẕẕ Ǣǣ

(phonetics) A common convention for a long vowel a


Κ

(textual criticism), the Byzantine text-type, from Κοινη (Koinē, “the common text”).


Φ

(linguistics) A wildcard for a pharyngeal consonant


ψ

(turned) a voiced retroflex click, IPA ⟨ɡ͜𝼊⟩.

(phonetics, dated) a voiceless retroflex click, IPA ⟨k͜𝼊⟩.


synonyms: O

(linguistics) A wildcard for an obstruent.


ē

(phonetics) A common convention for a long vowel e


The set-theoretic meaning of this symbol was introduced by the Bourbaki group in their treatise Éléments de mathématique. André Weil has said in his autobiography that he based it on the Norwegian letter Ø.

(linguistic morphology) A null morpheme; a theoretical morpheme used in models of linguistic analysis to represent the absence of a morpheme where one might otherwise be expected.


(phonetics) A common ad hoc letter for a retroflex click, IPA ⟨ 𝼊 ⟩. The character U+203C is recommended for this use by Unicode and is supported by SIL fonts (e.g. proper placement of IPA diacritics).


semantic-pragmatic reason
semantic-pragmatic disorder

(linguistics) Very questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason.


ʞ

(superscript ⟨𐞾⟩, IPA) [ʞ]-coloring, or a weak, fleeting or epenthetic [ʞ]-release.

A minus diacritic, [ʞ᫢], may be used to distinguish a uvular release.

(phonetics) A back-released click consonant (voiceless nasal, with a velar or uvular release).

ʞ=deep guttural k.

1892, Franz Boas, Notes on the Chemakum Language, in American Anthropologist

(phonetics, obsolete) A voiceless uvular stop ([q])


(linguistics) presupposition of a sentence


ˈ

(phonetics) A mid floating tone (when the macron is used for vowel length) or a high-mid floating tone (when the macron is used for tone).


ō

(phonetics) A common convention for a long vowel o


○ and ◌⃝ for uses of a letter inside a circle

(phonetics) An unidentifiable or indeterminate open vowel.


(Lithuanian dialectology) Marks a stressed syllable with "falling tone".


҅ (name spiritus asper or dasy pneuma or dasia)

spiritus asper (name)
dasy pneuma (name)
dasia (name)

(linguistics) Rough breathing mark; used in the early Cyrillic alphabet when writing the Old Church Slavonic language.


҆ (name spiritus lenis or psilon pneuma or psilí or zvatel'tse)

spiritus lenis (name)
psilon pneuma (name)
psilí (name)
zvatel'tse (name)

(linguistics) Soft breathing mark; used in the early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabets when writing the Old Church Slavonic language.


(linguistics) Extended diacritic symbol used in old Cyrillic manuscripts, e.g. in Old Church Slavonic language, indicating abbreviations, or letters used as numerals.


į

(phonetics) A nasal vowel [i]. The norm in Americanist notation; sometimes used in IPA transcription to leave room over the vowel letter for tone diacritics.


(lexicography) Used in some dictionaries when a hyphenated word breaks on the hyphen at the end of a line.


The caesura mark is a variant of the medieval Latin virgula (“scratch comma”).

(lexicography) Used to indicate an unnaturalised or foreign word.


henceforth (adv.) from this time forth; from now on: "⁓ she will be known as Mrs. Wales."

(lexicography) swung dash, used to indicate the repetition of the topical word or item.


(lexicography) A caret, marking where text is to be inserted.


(linguistics, text-style only) which goes to (used for synchronic rules only).

Cf. rising ↗ and falling ↘.

(phonetics, text-style only) An implicit IPA symbol for level intonation across a word or phrase, disregarding downdrift.


ᴀ

(phonetics, sinology) open central unrounded vowel, or low central unrounded vowel ([ä] in the IPA)

ᴀ ʙ ᴄ ᴅ ᴇ ꜰ ɢ ʜ ɪ ᴊ ᴋ ʟ ᴍ ɴ ᴏ ᴘ ꞯ ʀ ꜱ ᴛ ᴜ ᴠ ᴡ ʏ ᴢ


ᴇ

(phonetics, Sinology) A mid front unrounded vowel between [e] and [ɛ]: IPA [e̞].


ᴘ

Derived from ⟨ʙ⟩ by analogy with b and p.

(phonetics) A voiceless bilabial trill: IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: [ʙ̥].


ȸ

(phonetics, dated) Voiced labiodental plosive (IPA [b̪]).


ą

(phonetics) A nasal vowel [a]. The norm in Americanist notation; sometimes used in IPA transcription to leave room over the vowel letter for tone diacritics.


ȹ

(phonetics, dated) Voiceless labiodental plosive (IPA [p̪]).


Ƈ

(linguistics) A wildcard for an implosive consonant


ų

(phonetics) A nasal vowel [u]. The norm in Americanist notation; sometimes used in IPA transcription to leave room over the vowel letter for tone diacritics.


ǫ

(phonetics) A nasal vowel [õ]. The norm in Americanist notation; sometimes used in IPA transcription to leave room over the vowel letter for tone diacritics.

(phonetics) An open vowel [ɔ~ɒ], distinct from [o]. The norm in German dialectological notation; long equivalent is ǭ.


`num`

# (English symbol name number sign or hash or pound sign or octothorpe)

number sign (English name symbol)
hash (English name symbol)
pound sign (English name symbol)
octothorpe (English name symbol)

Jane is a great hostess and John is too.

I slept a wink last night.

Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

(linguistics) Used to indicate that a sentence is grammatical but semantically strange.

d → t / _#

/d/ devoices to [t] before a word boundary

(phonology) Used to indicate a word boundary.


`gt`

(linguistics) Which becomes (in diachronic changes only).


`vert`

| (English symbol name vertical bar or vertical line or pipe or pipe key)

vertical bar (English name symbol)
vertical line (English name symbol)
pipe (English name symbol)
pipe key (English name symbol)

Mármost a ragok és képzők többnyire kétalakúak, hogy a mély hangrendű szóhoz mélyet és magashoz magasat lehessen tenni. Ezért azt mondjuk, hogy kép | es | ség | ei | vel, illetve hogy ad | ós | ság | ai | val. Így nyilván mindenki ráismer erre a harmóniára.

2012, István Tótfalusi, Sertések a Bakonyban: kalandos nyelvtörténet [Pigs in the Bakony: An Adventurous History of Language] (quotation in Hungarian; overall work in Hungarian), Budapest: Libri Publishing Hungary, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, (HU-BpBKP)bkp121012591, page 75:

Now, the suffixes and derivational affixes generally have two forms, so that a low-vowel word can take a low-vowel suffix and a high-vowel word can take a high-vowel suffix. This is why we say "kép | es | ség | ei | vel" [with his/her abilities] and "ad | ós | ság | ai | val" [with his/her debts]. Thus, it is clear that everyone recognizes this harmony.

(linguistics) Separates elements of a word.


ISV

international scientific vocabulary
international scientific vocabulary

(linguistics, lexicography) international scientific vocabulary


Ɨ

synonyms: I for a high vowel

(linguistics) A wildcard for a high vowel or a central vowel


ƪ

(phonetics, obsolete) A voiceless labialized palatoalveolar or palatal fricative: identified as IPA [ʃʷ] or [çᶣ], equivalent to Twi hw before a front vowel.


Ƹ

Approximation of the Arabic letter ʿayn (ع).

(phonetics, dated) a voiced pharyngeal fricative (IPA [ʕ]).


ƺ

(phonetics, obsolete) labialized voiced palatoalveolar or palatal fricative: identified as IPA [ʒʷ] or [ʝᶣ], equivalent to Twi w before a front vowel.


ƻ

(phonetics, obsolete) The affricate [dz].


ʅ

*Created by Karlgren, from ⟨ɿ⟩ plus a retroflex tail, which was originally a detail of italic typeface; Y. R. Chao made the terminal a more pronounced hook to better match the IPA alphabet.

(phonetics) Used as a Sinologist symbol representing an apical retroflex unrounded vowel, [ʐ̩].


ī

(phonetics) A common transcription for a long vowel i


ū

(phonetics) A common convention for a long vowel u


ẅ

(NAPA, French phonetics) a labialized palatal approximant (IPA [ɥ]). (Consonantal ü.)


(a) Ingressive airstream mechanism when used with a letter for a (pulmonic) egressive sound, e.g. [s↓], [a↓], or percussive, e.g. [ʬ↓] for lips smacking apart, or (rarely) implosives such as [pʼ↓] for [ɓ̥].

(b) Inhalation when used alone: [↓].

(phonetics)
(chemistry) precipitate, precipitation


◌̅ (English name overbar or overline or overscore or vinculum)

overbar (English name)
overline (English name)
overscore (English name)
vinculum (English name)

(phonetics) marks a string of syllables or segments with high pitch. Compare ˹ ... ˺.


ɿ

*The Dania and Swedish dialect letter long i (dotless i with a descender), without the bottom terminal that is normal in italic typeface. Karlgren split the letter into two, with and without the bottom terminal, for Sinological use (see ⟨ʅ⟩). Karlgren also added a t-like terminal at the top for Sinological use; Y. R. Chao made the terminal a more pronounced hook to better match the IPA alphabet.
In some fonts the descender is missing so that the letter resembles a reversed fishhook r ⟨ɾ⟩, though the two letters have no etymological connection. In other fonts the whole letter is raised so that it lies on the baseline and has an ascender rather than a descender.

(phonetics) An apical vowel pronounced with friction: a nonstandard transcription of syllabic /z/, hence [z̩], used in transcribing various Sino-Tibetan languages.


ʹ

(lexicography) A mark for palatalization in Cyrillic dictionaries, equivalent to IPA ⟨ʲ⟩.


ᵷ

(phonetics, dated) A letter for transliterating a voiced uvular plosive (IPA ɢ), e.g. for the Georgian-script letter ⟨ჹ⟩ and in Boas (1900) for Kwakiutl.


A script w; generally designed as a Greek omega ω.

(phonetics, rare) rounded with the lips but not velarized as in [ʷ].


ɉ

(phonetics) An ad hoc transcription for IPA central [j̈].


ᵣ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽lᵣ⫽ for the collapsed distinction of /l/ and /r/ word-finally in some languages.


(a) (rare) egressive airstream mechanism when used with a letter for an ingressive sound, e.g. [ʘ↑]

(b) exhalation when used alone, [↑].

(number theory, computer science) exponentiation


(linguistics) cognate with ('A ⪤ B' means 'A and B are cognate')


(phonetics, rare) the triple pipe, a transcription for a second lateral click distinct from [ǁ].


(textual criticism, palaeography) Denotes conjectured or emendated characters because the text was transmitted wrongly or just broken away.


( ) (English name parentheses or round brackets)

parentheses (English name)
round bracket s (English name)

(phonetics) A transcription delimiter for silent utterances. It may enclose a transcription of a mouthed utterance derived from lip-reading, such as (ʃːː), or of the length of a pause between utterances, such as (1.3 sec). (...), (..) and (.) are used for increasingly brief pauses.


`lsqb` `rsqb`

used when omitting a section in quoted text

(textual criticism, palaeography) Denotes a text deemed interpolated.

Encloses alterations in quoted text.
Denotes a text deemed interpolated.

(linguistics) Encloses phonetic transcription.

(grammar) Encloses an ellipsis in phonology or grammar.


`lcub` `rcub`

We can write la{t,d}er for the conflated pronunciation of ladder and latter in American English. This may instead be written ⫽laDer⫽, where ⫽D⫽ is the archiphoneme {t, d}, or with both conventions for {laDer}.

(phonology) Encloses morphophonemic transcription; especially when presented as sets of phonemes rather than as single symbols for archiphonemes.


The second /l/ in the English word "little" is actually pronounced [ɫ̩], not that people usually notice.

(linguistics) Encloses phonemic transcription.


y̨

(phonetics) A nasal vowel [y]. Sometimes used in IPA transcription to leave room over the vowel letter for tone diacritics.


г//ж//з in друг-дру́жба-друзья́

(linguistics) Marks alternation of sounds.


(linguistics) Encloses morphophonemic transcription.


`vert` `vert`

(linguistics) Encloses diaphonemic transcription.


(phonetics) An unidentifiable or indeterminate tonicity (stress or tone).


ᵻ

(lexicography) A symbol used in some English-language dictionaries to denote a phoneme of some varieties of English, including standard Southern British English, that may be realised variously as [ɪ] or [ə] without error.


ᵿ

(lexicography) A symbol used in some English-language dictionaries to denote a phoneme of standard Southern British English and of standand American English that may be realised variously as [ʊ] or [ə] without error.


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate guttural (pharyngeal or laryngeal) consonant; or more specifically a glottal consonant.


Ɉ

synonyms: J

(linguistics) A wildcard for a palatal consonant


(linguistics) Encloses orthographic transcription.


ᶙ

(phonetics) Karlgren's form of the Sinological letter ʯ


ᶄ

Voiced homolog is ⟨ꞔ⟩.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology & Dania transcription) IPA [kʲ].


ʓ

(phonetics) The 'closed' voiced fricative in Circassian, commonly transcribed ⟨ẑ⟩ and for which ⟨⟩ was once proposed for the IPA.


Ṽ

The maximum syllable structure of the Hadza language is variously analyzed as CVN or as CṼ.

(phonetics) A wildcard for a nasal vowel.


ⱴ

(phonetics, obsolete) A labiodental flap, now IPA ⟨ⱱ⟩.


(linguistics, in Igor Mel’čuk’s works) Encloses phrasemes.


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate glide/approximant or (rarely in English) velar consonant


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate sibilant


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate plosive


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate liquid, or (rarely) a lateral


(Note: in English, Ⓖ is far more common.)

(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate approximant.

(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate palatal consonant.


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate vowel


(food): Abbreviation of kosher. A trademarked symbol used by the OK Kosher Certification agency for use on food packaging.

(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate velar consonant


ʮ

*The Dania and Swedish dialect letter script y, ɥ, without the bottom terminal that is normal in italic typeface. Karlgren split the letter into two, with and without the bottom terminal, for Sinological use (see ⟨ʯ⟩). Karlgren also added a t-like terminal at the top for Sinological use; Y. R. Chao made the terminal a more pronounced hook to better match the IPA alphabet.

(phonetics) used as Sinologist linguistic symbol representing an apical alveolar rounded vowel


ʯ

*Created by Karlgren, from ⟨ʮ⟩ plus a retroflex tail, which was originally a detail of italic typeface; Y. R. Chao made the tail a more pronounced hook to better match the IPA alphabet.

(phonetics) used as Sinologist linguistic symbol representing an apical retroflex rounded vowel


(linguistic morphology) A representation of the zero suffix.


ᵼ

close central unrounded vowel
w:close central unrounded vowel

(phonetics) A variant of the letter ⟨ɨ⟩ for the close central unrounded vowel of Russian.


Ʞ

(linguistics) A wildcard for any click consonant. Some authors use a small-cap variant ⟨𝼐⟩ to allow more room for combining diacritics.


Ꞔ

synonym: Cʲ (current IPA)

(linguistics) A wildcard for a palatalized consonant


ₛ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽zₛ⫽ for the collapsed voicing contrast of /z/ and /s/ before voiced consonants in many languages.


ₚ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽bₚ⫽ for the collapsed voicing contrast of /b/ and /p/ before voiced consonants in many languages.


ₜ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽dₜ⫽ for the collapsed voicing contrast of /d/ and /t/ before voiced consonants in many languages, or in ladder vs latter in American English.


ₙ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽mₙ⫽ for the collapsed distinction of /m/ and /n/ before bilabial consonants in many languages.


ₘ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽nₘ⫽ for the collapsed distinction of /n/ and /m/ before alveolar consonants in many languages.


ₗ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽rₗ⫽ for the collapsed distinction of /r/ and /l/ between vowels in some languages.


ₖ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽ɡₖ⫽ for the collapsed voicing contrast of /ɡ/ and /k/ before voiced consonants in many languages.


ₕ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽xₕ⫽ for collapse of the distinction between /x/ and /h/ before a consonant in some languages.


ₔ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽ᵻₔ⫽ for the loss of a distinction between the reduced vowels /ᵻ/ and /ə/ after certain consonants in some varieties of English.


ₓ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽ɣₓ⫽ for the collapsed voicing contrast of /ɣ/ and /x/ before voiced consonants in many languages.


ₒ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽aₒ⫽ for the collapsed vowels /a/ and /o/ in unstressed positions in Polish.


ₑ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽iₑ⫽ for the collapsed vowels /i/ and /e/ in unstressed positions in Russian.


ₐ

(phonology) a phonemic component of an archiphoneme. E.g. ⫽ɛₐ⫽ for the collapsed vowels /ɛ/ and /a/ after palatalized consonants in Lithuanian.


ꭥ

A turned Latin upsilon ʊ, which in this era was often typeset as a turned small-capital omega.

(phonetics) A mid back round vowel between [o] and [ɔ] (IPA [o̞]).


(phonetics) A tilde that spans two letters, such as a nasal diphthong like ⟨a͠u⟩.


(phonetics) marks a string of syllables or segments with low pitch. Compare ˻ ... ˼.


(phonetics) released, e.g. ⟨k˚⟩ as opposed to unreleased [k̚].

(phonetics) aspirated, e.g. ⟨k˚⟩ for IPA [kʰ] or [k˳].

(phonetics) labialization, e.g. ⟨k˚⟩ (or more properly ⟨kᵒ⟩) for IPA [kʷ].


(Lithuanian dialectology) Marks a stressed syllable with "broken tone".


(phonetics) unidentifiable/indeterminate close vowel (high vowel)


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate consonant


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate labial consonant


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate nasal


(phonetics) unidentifiable/indeterminate rounded vowel


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate obstruent

(phonetics) unidentifiable/indeterminate back vowel


(phonetics, a) an unidentifiable/indeterminate rhotic

(phonetics, b) an unidentifiable/indeterminate resonant (sonorant)


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate fricative


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate alveolar consonant


(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate uvular consonant


(mathematics)
(linguistics) Used in ⫽ ⫽.


(phonetics) unidentifiable/indeterminate front vowel


(linguistics, rare) typographic substitute for the click letter ⦀


(linguistic morphology) A representation of the zero prefix.


(phonetics, text-style only) An IPA symbol for rising intonation across a word or phrase, called a 'global rise' in IPA.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A sharp rise in tone.


(phonetics, text-style only) An IPA symbol for falling intonation across a word or phrase, called a 'global fall' in IPA.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A sharp fall in tone.


𝼑

(phonetics, Anthropos orthography) alveolar lateral flap, IPA ⟨ɺ⟩


𝼞

⟨c⟩ = [ts]

⟨č⟩ = [tš]

⟨𝼝 ⟩ = [tʂ]

⟨ɕ⟩ = [t𝼞].

(phonetics) a substitute for IPA ⟨ɕ⟩ in transcriptions where ⟨c⟩ is used for the affricate [t͡s] and thus ⟨ɕ⟩ is used for IPA [t͡ɕ]:

(phonetics, superscript ⟨𐞺⟩) a [𝼞]-like fricative release; ⟨t𐞺⟩ = IPA [tᶝ].


(lexicography) Used in some dictionaries when a hyphenated word breaks on the hyphen at the end of a line.


ⱼ

An approximation of the palatal hook ⟨◌̡⟩, which actually derives from a subscript j.

(phonetics) Used in some traditions for a palatalized consonant, ⟨Cⱼ⟩, with proper IPA ⟨Cʲ⟩ being used instead for a consonant with a palatal off-glide.


ᵸ

(phonetics) Used to transcribe nasal vowels, e.g. ⟨аᵸ⟩ for IPA [ã].


ᴮ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard B, used i.a. for an indistinct labial consonant


ᴰ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard D, used i.a. for an indistinct alveolar consonant


ᴳ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard G, used i.a. for an indistinct glide/semivowel ⟨ᴳ⟩, the off-glide of a vowel ⟨Vᴳ⟩, or a generic glide release of a consonant ⟨Cᴳ⟩.


ᴴ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard H, used i.a. for an indistinct glottal consonant


ᴶ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard J, used i.a. for an indistinct palatal consonant


ᴷ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard K, used i.a. for an indistinct velar consonant


ᴸ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard L, used i.a. for an indistinct liquid or lateral consonant ⟨ᴸ⟩ or a liquid or lateral release of a consonant ⟨Cᴸ⟩.


ᴺ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard N, used i.a. for an indistinct nasal consonant ⟨ᴺ⟩, or for a generic nasal onset or release of a consonant, ⟨ᴺC⟩ or ⟨Cᴺ⟩.


ᴾ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard P, used i.a. for an indistinct plosive consonant ⟨ᴾ⟩, for an epenthetic plosive, e.g. ⟨NᴾF⟩ (epenthetic plosive between a nasal and a fricative), for a plosive onset ⟨ᴾN⟩, etc.


ᴿ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard R, used i.a. for an indistinct rhotic consonant ⟨ᴿ⟩ or the rhotic (e.g. trilled) release of a consonant ⟨Cᴿ⟩.

may be equivalent to ⟨ᴸᴴ⟩ (full rising tone), ⟨ᴹᴴ⟩ (high/mid rising tone) or ⟨ᴸᴹ⟩ (low rising tone).


ᵀ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard T, used i.a. for a generic syllable tone or word tone, e.g. ⟨CVNᵀ⟩ (a consonant-vowel-nasal syllable with tone).


ꟴ

(phonetics) a transcription of Japanese sokuon (gemination of an obstruent)

(phonetics) a modifier wildcard Q, used i.a. for an indistinct uvular consonant


ꟲ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard C, used i.a. for an indistinct or epenthetic consonant ꟲ, for a prestopped nasal ꟲN, etc.


ꟳ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard F, used i.a. for a fricative release Cꟳ or Pꟳ, or for an indistinct fricative ꟳ.

May be equivalent to ᴴᴸ (fully falling tone), ᴴᴹ (high falling tone) or ᴹᴸ (low/mid falling tone).


ⱽ

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard V, used i.a. for an indistinct, fleeting or epenthetic vowel ⟨ⱽ⟩, an on- or off-glide ⟨ⱽV, Vⱽ⟩, a vowel release ⟨Cⱽ⟩, or vowel coloration of a consonant ⟨ⱽC, Cⱽ⟩.


An iconically weakened variant of the minor-break marker ⟨|⟩.

(phonetics) A prosodic unit more minor than the minor break ⟨|⟩, as found in list-intonation.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A slight pause (silence) in the middle of a syntagm.


(phonetics) A prosodic unit more minor than the minor break ⟨|⟩, as found in list-intonation, or between a minor break and a major break ⟨‖⟩.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) An unexpected interruption in the flow of speech, or a sharp change of intonation.


(phonetics) A transcription delimiter indicating obscured speech in a recording.


𝒬

(phonetics, obsolete) letter in Doke (1925) for a voiced alveolar click (presumably inspired by the letter Q for the alveolar clicks in Zulu and Xhosa)


⌜う⌝みでお⌜よ⌝ぎ

(phonetics) Sets off a sequence bearing high pitch in a pitch-accent language.


𝼐

(linguistics) A variant of the wildcard for a click consonant, Ʞ, made small-capital to allow more room for combining diacritics.


Cʼ

(linguistics) A wildcard for an ejective consonant


(phonetics, UPA) the onset of a string of syllables or segments with high pitch or tone, either lexical or grammatical as in a pitch accent language, or intonational.


(phonetics, UPA) the onset of a string of syllables or segments with low pitch or tone, either lexical or grammatical as in a pitch accent language, or intonational.


(phonetics, UPA) the end of a string of syllables or segments with high pitch or tone, either lexical or grammatical as in a pitch accent language, or intonational.


(phonetics, UPA) the end of a string of syllables or segments with low pitch or tone, either lexical or grammatical as in a pitch accent language, or intonational.


𝼝

⟨c⟩ = [ts]

⟨č⟩ = [tš]

⟨ɕ⟩ = [t𝼞]

⟨𝼝 ⟩ = [tʂ].

(phonetics) a retroflex affricate (IPA [tʂ]) in transcriptions where ⟨c⟩ is used for the affricate [t͡s].


(phonetics) The higher of two mid tones in the transcription of a language with four or six pitch levels. Contrasts with the macron ⟨◌̄⟩ for the lower mid tone.

(phonetics) Used to mark mid tone when the macron is used for vowel length.

(Lithuanian dialectology) Marks a stressed syllable with unspecified tone.


ꞕ

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) IPA [hʲ].

ᶀ Ꞔꞔ ᶁ 𝼒 ᶂ ᶃ ꞕ ᶄ ᶅᶪ 𝼓 ᶆ ᶇ 𝼔 ᶈ ᶉ 𝼖 𝼕 ᶊ ᶋ ƫᶵ 𝼗 ᶌ ᶍ Ᶎᶎ 𝼘


ꞔ

Voiceless homolog is ⟨ᶄ⟩.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology & Dania transcription) IPA [ɡʲ].


r̄

(phonetics) Transcription in the Spanish tradition for a trilled R.


l̃

(phonetics) Transcription in the Spanish tradition for [ʎ].


ꞏ

(lexicography) The 'neutral' tone (a toneless syllable) in pinyin, e.g. Mandarin 吗 ·ma, or 知道 zhī·dào (pronounced either zhīdào or zhīdao). The zhuyin equivalent is ⟨˙⟩


ꬼ

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) palatal IPA [ ɲ].


ꬻ

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology, Anthropos orthography) velar nasal, IPA [ŋ].


ꬺ

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology, Anthropos orthography) labiodental nasal, IPA [ɱ].


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A slight rise in tone.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology, at the end of a word) A slight fall in tone.

(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology, at the beginning of a phrase) An overall fall in tone.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A rising tone with falling trend at the end.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A harp rise and fall in tone.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A continued rise in tone.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A continued fall in tone.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A sharp fall in tone with a rising trend at the end.


(phonetics, Lithuanian dialectology) A slight fall in tone with a rising trend at the end.


Perhaps inspired by Tindall's use of the Latin letter v for this click, with a stroke either from Lepsius or by analogy with ψ.

(phonetics, obsolete) A voiceless palatal click in Doke (1925).


(phonetics, obsolete) A voiced palatal click in Doke (1925).


(semantics) denotes the extension of a word, phrase or sentence.


Doubling to iconically indicate greater fidelity.

(linguistics, epigraphy) May contrast with ⟨ ⟩ to distinguish ⟪original orthography⟫ from ⟨transliteration⟩, or the ⟪idiosyncratic spelling⟫ of a manuscript from the ⟨normalized orthography⟩ of the language.


E.g. The short vowel ⟨a꭛⟩ is equivalent to ⟨ă⟩, just as the long vowel ⟨a꞉⟩ is equivalent to ⟨ā⟩, and the nasal vowel ⟨a∼⟩ is equivalent to ⟨ã⟩.

(phonetics, obsolete) A form of the breve diacritic when not carried by a vowel.


ꭤ

(phonetics, obsolete) A low back unrounded vowel in Kurath (1939). (IPA [ɑ].)


(phonetics) apical articulation. IPA ⟨◌̺⟩. Sometimes seen in what is otherwise largely IPA transcription.


ꞓ

(phonetics) A manual-typewriter substitution for ⟨ɕ⟩ or ⟨ç⟩.

See ꞓ̂.

(phonetics, French) The fricative sound of French ch.


(Lithuanian dialectology) Marks a stressed syllable with "rising tone".


ꭉ

(phonetics, Anthropos orthography) a velar or (as ⟨ꭉ̣⟩) uvular tap, IPA [ɡ̆] or [ɢ̆]/[ʀ̆].


ꭊ̣

(phonetics, Anthropos orthography) a uvular trill, IPA [ʀ].


ꭈ

(phonetics, Anthropos orthography) alveolar trill, IPA [r].


(Lithuanian dialectology) Marks a stressed syllable with "middle tone".


A sharp sign, ⟨♯⟩, indicating high pitch.

John Peabody Harrington
w:John Peabody Harrington

(phonetics, rare) A transcription convention of John Peabody Harrington for extra stress.


(phonetics) ellipsis of the feature conveyed by a diacritic.


s᪳

(phonetics) The Slavic fricative ⟨ś⟩ (IPA [ɕ]).


ʒ᪳

(phonetics) Palatalized ⟨ǯ⟩; the Slavic affricate ⟨dź⟩ (IPA [d͡ʑ]).


c᪳

(phonetics) The Slavic affricate ⟨ć⟩ (IPA [t͡ɕ]).


z᪳

(phonetics) The Slavic fricative ⟨ź⟩ (IPA [ʑ]).


Possibly the IPA practice of doubling a diacritic to indicate greater intensity, in this case the diacritic for creaky voice, ⟨◌̰⟩.

(phonetics) marks the strident vowels of Khoisan languages.


(phonetics, dated) A common ad hoc remedy for the lack of type for phonetic symbols on manual typewriters. A letter with the approximate sound would be typed, then the writer would hit backspace and overstrike a solidus on the letter.


(phonetics, dated) A common ad hoc remedy for the lack of type for phonetic symbols on manual typewriters. A letter with the approximate sound would be typed, then the writer would hit backspace and overstrike either with a hyphen (for a narrow letter) or with an underscore after scrolling the paper upward half a line (for a wide letter).


ʇ̣

(phonetics, Anthropos orthography) base letter of the retroflex click consonants, IPA [𝼊].


ꙫ

* A wide 'o' with two dots (essentially the IPA symbol for a bilabial click, ⟨ʘ⟩, with a double dot), designed to resemble a pigs' snout.

(linguistics, humorous) phonetic symbol for the "nasal-ingressive velar trill", an articulatory description of an inwards snort.


(lexicography) Indicates a legal but undesirable location for a word break.


ꞓ̂

See ꞓ.

(phonetics, French) The affricate sound of English ch.


ẑ

(phonetics) The 'closed' voiced fricative in Circassian, for which ⟨⟩ was once proposed for the IPA.


ꭒ

(phonetics, French) The vowel [u] when the letter ⟨u⟩ is used for its French value [y].


Coordinate term: *

Compare the following incorrect sentences:
Eats like pig.
Pig like eats.

(descriptive linguistics) Indicates that a term or phrase is more grammatically incorrect (or otherwise ill-formed) than another.

Coordinate term: *

Hebrew תָּמָר (tamár, “dates”) is borrowed from Aramaic תְּמָרָא (təmārā, “dates”); but if it were cognate to it, the Hebrew form would be שָׁמָר** (**shamár) instead.

(historical linguistics) Indicates that the term has been invented for the sake of argument and is not assumed to have been real.


(Teuthonista)
(phonetics) Voiced (of a click letter)


(phonetics, Scots) voiceless labialization, such as ⟨xᫀ⟩ for [xꭩ] or ⟨ɸᫀ⟩ for [ɸꭩ] at the end of a word.


(phonetics, Scots) voiced labialization, such as ⟨xᪿ⟩ for [xʷ] or ⟨ɸᪿ⟩ for [ɸʷ] before a vowel.


The words \ˈmeɪri\ (Mary), \ˈmɛri\ (merry) and \ˈmæri\ (marry) are all pronounced /ˈmɛri/ in General American, whereas \ˈspɑː\ (spa) and \ˈspɑːr\ (spar) are both pronounced /ˈspɑː/ in Received Pronunciation.

(linguistics) Encloses diaphonemic transcription.


-pro

PIE word
 *pró
Abbreviation of New Latin proto-, from Ancient Greek πρῶτος (prôtos, “first, firstmost”), from Ancient Greek πρό (pró, “before”), from Proto-Hellenic *pró, from Proto-Indo-European *pró, Proto-Indo-European *per-.

der

itc (“Italic languages”) + -pro → itc-pro (“Proto-Italic”)

ine (“Indo-European languages”) + -pro → ine-pro (“Proto-Indo-European”)

language families
language family#English

(linguistics) proto-; proto-language; used to create the language codes of proto-languages from the language codes of language families.


sore⹕k⹖kiri means that the geminate /k/ is optional: sorekkiri and sorekiri are both acceptable.

(grammar) A delimiter indicating optional elipsis in phonology or grammar. More precise than ….


watasi ⹗ga⹘ sika means that the particle ga does not occur before sika.

(grammar) A delimiter indicating obligatory elipsis in phonology or grammar. More precise than ….


k⹙š⹚m for example may indicate that a reconstruction is ambiguous between *kšm and *ksm, if it is not clear that *š is justified as a distinct consonant in the protolanguage.

(linguistic reconstruction) Marks a reconstructed phoneme as dubiously distinct.


šam⹛a⹜š for example indicates that it is not clear whether the word was *šamaš or *šams.

(linguistic reconstruction) Marks a reconstructed segment as dubious.


Superscript S

(phonetics) a superscript wildcard S, used i.a. for a sibilant release of a consonant


Ʞ⃝

(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate click consonant


(linguistics) Encloses morphophonemic transcription.


σ⃝

(phonetics) an unidentifiable/indeterminate syllable


w̶

voiceless labial–velar fricative
w:voiceless labial–velar fricative

(lexicography) Used for the voiceless labial–velar fricative, IPA [ʍ].


ꚝ

(lexicography) a mark for palatalization, equivalent to IPA ⟨ʲ⟩.


ꚜ

(lexicography) marks the absence of palatalization.