Diacritical, << `dy` uh KRIHT uh kuhl, >> mark is a sign used with letters of the alphabet to show pronunciation or meaning of words. Diacritical marks are a regular part of spelling in many foreign languages . For example, in French, a ç with a cedilla allows the reader to know the letter will be pronounced as an s, as in façade. In English, some words borrowed from other languages also use diacritical marks, but the marks are mainly used in dictionaries to show how words are pronounced. Diacritical marks (shown here with the letter e) in English include the circumflex (ê) and the macron (ē).
