---------------------------------------------------------------------- The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for April 23, 1999 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- dieresis / diaeresis [n. dy-AIR-ih-sis] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- A dieresis is a special mark (two small dots) that is placed over the second of two vowels in a word to show that the vowel is pronounced separately. It may look like a German umlaut, but it's not the same. You may have seen it over the "e" of "noel" and over the "i" of "naive." A dieresis can also be used to show that a vowel is not silent, as in the "e" of "Bronte." The basic character set used in this article does not allow us to show these diereses in position. A dieresis can also be a short pause in a line of poetic verse that happens when the end of a word and the end of a metric foot come at the same moment. The meaning has to do with a break or separation. The original root is Greek diairein (to divide), from dia- (apart) and hairein (to take). Although the Greek prefic dia- usually means "through" or "across," there are some words where it means "apart." Here are more "apart" words: diagnosis: analysis, evaluation, or conclusion ("knowing apart") diacritical: making a distinction, able to distinguish ("separating apart") dialysis: separating molecules in a solution ("loosening apart") ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cool Word of the Day list membership: 85,063 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe, visit http://www.tlk-lists.com/join/ To unsubscribe, visit http://www.tlk-lists.com/change/ To become a sponsor, visit http://www.tlk-lists.com/sponsor/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 1999, The Learning Kingdom, Inc. http://www.LearningKingdom.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------