grave accent
nounUK /ɡreɪv ˈæksənt/
US /ɡreɪv ˈæksənt/
A small mark that slants down from left to right, placed above a letter.
In the word "père," the letter e has a grave accent over it.
RELATED WORDS
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A mark used in some languages to show how a vowel is pronounced or to tell words apart.
French uses the grave accent in words like "là" and "où."
3. A backward-slanting symbol used in writing systems and computer code.
The programmer typed a grave accent to start a code block.
4. A stress mark in phonetics that shows a falling pitch.
The teacher marked the syllable with a grave accent to show its tone.