What does dieresis mean?
A dieresis is a diacritical mark consisting of two dots placed over a vowel, most commonly over the second of two adjacent vowels, to indicate that it should be pronounced as a separate syllable rather than blended with its neighbor. Familiar examples include naïve, Noël, and Chloë, where the dots prevent readings such as 'nayv' or 'kloze'. The term also has a specialized sense in classical prosody, where it denotes the division between two metrical feet that coincides with a word boundary. Although the dieresis resembles the German umlaut in appearance, the two serve different purposes: an umlaut signals a shift in vowel sound, whereas a dieresis simply separates vowels. Once common in English printings like 'coöperate', it survives mainly in borrowed names and words, making knowledge of it useful for editors, linguists, and careful writers.
nounA diacritical mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is pronounced as a separate syllable rather than merged with an adjacent vowel. It also refers more broadly to the division or separation of sounds or syllables in prosody.
- A diacritical mark (¨) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to show they are pronounced in separate syllables, as in naïve or coöperate.
- The natural pause or division occurring at the end of one foot and the beginning of another in classical verse.
"In the name Chloë, the dieresis over the e signals that it forms its own syllable."
"Careful typographers preserve the dieresis in words like naïve to guide readers toward the correct pronunciation."
"In classical metrics, a dieresis occurs when the end of a metrical foot coincides with the end of a word."
Follows the Greek-derived plural pattern seen in words like 'analyses'; pronounced /daɪˈɛrɪsiːz/.
"Older English texts are full of diereses in words like coöperate and preëminent."
The two dots in naïve and Chloë have a proper grammatical name — dieresis — and they're not the same thing as the German umlaut, even though they look identical.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of dieresis
The word dieresis comes from Greek diairesis, meaning 'division' or 'taking apart', formed from the verb diairein ('to divide'), which combines the prefix dia- ('through, apart') with hairein ('to take'). The same Greek root gives us heresy, literally a 'taking' or choosing of a particular doctrine. The word entered English in the early 17th century via Latin, and the spelling diaeresis preserves the original digraph ae favored in British English.
Word family
Usage notes
The word is formal and largely confined to linguistic, typographic, and editorial contexts. British English typically prefers the spelling 'diaeresis', while 'dieresis' predominates in American usage. In everyday modern writing the mark itself has become rare outside loanwords such as naïve.
Don't confuse with
An umlaut signals a change in vowel quality (as in German schön), while a dieresis merely indicates that two adjacent vowels are pronounced separately.
Diaeresis is simply the standard British and etymologically fuller spelling of the same word; dieresis is a common American variant.