umlaut

See also: Umlaut and ümlaut

English

WOTD – 12 November 2008
Two umlaut diacritics over a.
Development of the umlaut in German handwriting.

Etymology

From German Umlaut in the 19th century, from um- or um (around, re-, trans-) + Laut (sound), from Old High German hlūt. More at umb, loud.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈʊm.laʊt/, /ˈʌm.laʊt/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈʊm.laʊt/, /ˈum.laʊt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊt

Noun

umlaut (plural umlauts or umlaute)

  1. (linguistics) An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants.
  2. (linguistics) The umlaut process (as above) that occurred historically in Germanic languages whereby back vowels became front vowels when followed by syllable containing a front vocoid (e.g. Germanic lūsiz > Old English lȳs(i) > Modern English lice).
  3. (linguistics) A vowel so assimilated.
  4. (orthography) The diacritical mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel when it indicates a (rounded) front vowel
  5. (informal, orthography) A diaeresis.
    Naïve takes an umlaut as it's pronounced as two syllables.

Usage notes

  • Although this symbol has the same form as the diaeresis/dieresis, it has a different function and so in standard and technical usage these two terms are not interchangeable. The term for the diacritic mark, as opposed to its function, is trema.
  • When spelling a German word out loud, one can say “(vowel) umlaut” or “umlauted (vowel)”. e.g. “o umlaut” or “umlauted o” (ö). (German practice is to say “o Umlaut”, or more commonly to pronounce the letters, so the name of "Ö" is [øː], just as "A" is [aː] and "B" is [beː].) In the North of Germany, "ä" and "e" are pronounced identically; therefore, one would tend to say "a Umlaut" to avoid confusion.
  • In alphabetic orders, "ä, ö, ü" are treated as "a, o, u" or "ae, oe, ue" in German (so the word lügen comes directly after or before the word lugen). In other languages, such as Swedish, the umlaut letters may have their own position in the alphabet.
  • The usual English plural is umlauts, but the form umlaute (after the German) has seen some use. It is quite rare, however.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

umlaut (third-person singular simple present umlauts, present participle umlauting, simple past and past participle umlauted)

  1. (transitive) To place an umlaut over (a vowel).
  2. (linguistics, transitive) To modify (a word) so that an umlaut is required in it.
    an umlauting vowel

See also

Anagrams


Dutch

Etymology

From German Umlaut.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈum.lɑu̯t/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: um‧laut

Noun

umlaut m (plural umlauten)

  1. (Germanic grammar) umlaut

Derived terms


Finnish

Etymology

From German Umlaut.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈumlɑut/, [ˈumlɑut̪]
  • Rhymes: -umlɑut
  • Syllabification(key): um‧la‧ut

Noun

umlaut

  1. umlaut (the diacritical mark ( ¨ ) placed over various vowels: a > ä, o > ö or u > ü in German and some closely related languages)

Declension

Inflection of umlaut (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative umlaut umlautit
genitive umlautin umlautien
partitive umlautia umlauteja
illative umlautiin umlauteihin
singular plural
nominative umlaut umlautit
accusative nom. umlaut umlautit
gen. umlautin
genitive umlautin umlautien
partitive umlautia umlauteja
inessive umlautissa umlauteissa
elative umlautista umlauteista
illative umlautiin umlauteihin
adessive umlautilla umlauteilla
ablative umlautilta umlauteilta
allative umlautille umlauteille
essive umlautina umlauteina
translative umlautiksi umlauteiksi
instructive umlautein
abessive umlautitta umlauteitta
comitative umlauteineen
Possessive forms of umlaut (type risti)
possessor singular plural
1st person umlautini umlautimme
2nd person umlautisi umlautinne
3rd person umlautinsa

Hypernyms

Anagrams


Manx

Etymology

From German Umlaut.

Noun

umlaut m (genitive singular umlaut, plural umlautyn)

  1. (linguistics, orthography) umlaut

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Umlaut.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈum.lawt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -umlawt
  • Syllabification: um‧laut

Noun

umlaut m inan

  1. (phonology) umlaut (the partial assimilation of vowels in some Germanic languages)
  2. umlaut (diacritical mark)

Declension

Further reading

  • umlaut in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • umlaut in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Noun

umlaut m (plural umlauts)

  1. (linguistics) umlaut (the partial assimilation of a vowel in Germanic languages)
  2. (orthography) umlaut (the diacritical mark ¨ used to indicate such assimilation)

Romanian

Etymology

From German Umlaut.

Noun

umlaut n (uncountable)

  1. umlaut

Declension

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