View source for Breve

{{Short description|Diacritical mark, ◌̆}}
{{Distinguish|Brevet (disambiguation){{!}}Brevet}}
{{other uses}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox diacritic
|char=◌̆
|name=Breve
|unicode=
}}
[[File:PT Serif cyrillic and latin letters difference.svg|alt=Some typefaces differentiate Cyrillic style (top) and Latin style breve (bottom)|thumb|[[PT Fonts|Some typefaces]] differentiate Cyrillic style (top) and Latin style breve (bottom)]]
A '''breve''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=Breve- primary pronunciation.ogg|'|b|ɹ|iː|v|}} {{respell|BREEV}}, less often {{IPAc-en|audio=Breve - shorter e.ogg|'|b|r|ɛ|v|}} {{respell|BREV}}, [[grammatical gender|neuter]] form of the [[Latin]] {{lang|la|brevis}} "short, brief") is the [[diacritic]] mark '''<span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̆}}</span>''',<!-- This presentation uses <span style="font-family: serif"> because of rendering limitation in Android (as of v13), that its default sans font fails to render "dotted circle + diacritic", so visitors just get a meaningless (to most) [X] mark. Please retain at least until the issue is resolved because this is a very large proportion of visitors. --> shaped like the bottom half of a circle. As used in [[Ancient Greek]], it is also called '''{{transliteration|grc|brachy}}''', {{lang|grc|βραχύ}}. It resembles the [[caron]] (<span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̌}}</span>, the wedge or {{lang|cs|háček}} in [[Czech language|Czech]], {{lang|sk|mäkčeň}} in [[Slovak language|Slovak]]) but is rounded, in contrast to the angular tip of the caron. In many forms of [[Latin]], <span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̆}}</span> is used for a shorter, softer variant of a vowel, such as "Ĭ", where the sound is nearly identical to the English /i/. (See: [[Help:IPA/Latin|Latin IPA]])
{| class="wikitable"
|+Breve vs. caron
!Breve
|<big><big>Ă ă Ĕ ĕ Ğ ğ Ĭ ĭ Ŏ ŏ Ŭ ŭ Y̆ y̆</big></big>
|-
!Caron
|<big><big>Ǎ ǎ Ě ě Ǧ ǧ Ǐ ǐ Ǒ ǒ Ǔ ǔ Y̌ y̌</big></big>
|}

== Length ==
The breve sign indicates a short vowel, as opposed to the [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] (<span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̄}}</span>), which indicates long vowels, in academic transcription. It is often used that way in dictionaries and textbooks of [[Latin]], [[Ancient Greek]], [[Tuareg languages|Tuareg]] and other languages. However, there is a frequent convention of indicating only the long vowels. It is then understood that a vowel with no [[Macron (diacritic)|macron]] is short. If the vowel length is unknown, a breve as well as a macron are used in historical linguistics (Ā̆ ā̆ Ē̆ ē̆  Ī̆ ī̆ Ō̆ ō̆ Ū̆ ū̆ Ȳ̆ ȳ̆).
In [[Cyrillic script]], a breve is used for [[Й]]. In [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], it is used for both the Cyrillic [[Ў]] (semivowel U) and in the Latin ([[Lacinka|Łacinka]]) Ŭ. Ў was also used in Cyrillic [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]] under the [[Soviet Union]]. The [[Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet]] uses a breve on [[Ӂ]] to represent a [[voiced postalveolar affricate]] {{IPA|/d͡ʒ/}} (corresponding to {{angbr|g}} before a front vowel in the Latin script for [[Moldovan language|Moldovan]]). In [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], a breve is used for Cyrillic letters Ӑ (A-breve) and Ӗ (E-breve). In [[Itelmen language|Itelmen]] orthography, it is used for Ӑ, [[O with breve (Cyrillic)|О̆]] and Ў. The traditional Cyrillic breve differs in shape and is thicker on the edges of the curve and thinner in the middle, as opposed to the Latin one,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://fonts.ru/help/term/terms.asp?code=591 |script-title=ru:Бреве кириллическое, "кратка" |publisher=ParaType |language=ru |trans-title=Cyrillic breve ("kratka") }}</ref> but the Unicode encoding is the same.

[[File:Contrastive use of kratka and breve.JPG|thumb|250px|Contrastive use of Cyrillic kratka (for consonant [j]) and Latin breve (for short vowel [ĭ]) above '''и''' in [[Russian language|Russian]]–[[Tundra Nenets language|Nenets]] dictionary]]
In [[Emilian dialect|Emilian]], ''ĕ ŏ'' are used to represent {{IPA|[ɛ, ɔ]}} in dialects where also long {{IPA|[ɛː, ɔː]}} occur.

In [[Esperanto]], ''u'' with breve (ŭ) represents a [[semivowel|non-syllabic]] ''u'' in [[diphthong]]s {{IPAslink|u̯}}, analogous to Belarusian ''[[ў]]''.

In the transcription of [[Sinhala language|Sinhala]], the breve over an ''m'' or an ''n'' indicates a [[prenasalized consonant]]; for example, ''n̆da'' is used to represent {{IPA|[ⁿda]}}.

In the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], a breve over a phonetic symbol is used to indicate [[extra-shortness]].

== Other uses ==
In other languages, it is used for other purposes.

* In [[Romanian language|Romanian]], ''A'' with breve represents /[[Mid central vowel|ə]]/, as in ''măr'' (apple).
* [[G-breve]] appears in the [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]], [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]], [[Tatar language|Tatar]], and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] alphabets. In Turkish, ''ğ'' lengthens the preceding vowel. It is thus placed between two vowels and is silent in standard Turkish but may be pronounced {{IPA|[ɰ]}} in some regional dialects or varieties closer to [[Ottoman Turkish language|Ottoman Turkish]].
* The breve, together with the [[circumflex]] and [[horn (diacritic)|horn]], are used in the [[Vietnamese language]] to represent additional vowels.
* The [[McCune–Reischauer]] romanization system of Korean uses ''ŏ'' and ''ŭ'' to represent the vowels {{lang|ko|ㅓ}} and {{lang|ko|ㅡ}}.
* [[Ḫ|H-breve below]] Ḫ ḫ is used to transliterate the [[Arabic]] character [[Ḫāʾ]] ({{lang|ar|خ}}) in [[DIN 31635]]. It is also used to transliterate [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], [[Hittite cuneiform]], and [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]].
*On [[German language]] maps, a double breve is often used in abbreviated placenames that end in ''-b͝g.,'' short for ''-burg,'' a common suffix originally meaning "castle". This prevents misinterpretation as ''-berg,'' another common suffix in placenames (meaning "mountain"). Thus, for example, ''Freib͝g.'' stands for ''[[Freiburg (disambiguation)|Freiburg]],'' not ''[[Freiberg (disambiguation)|Freiberg]].''
*Certain transcription systems for certain [[varieties of Chinese]] employ the breve to represent one of the [[Tone (linguistics)|tones]], including [[Foochow Romanized]] for the [[Fuzhou dialect]] of [[Eastern Min]], and [[Kienning Colloquial Romanized]] for the [[Jian'ou dialect]] of [[Northern Min]] (which also uses the [[caron]]).
*In [[Khmer language|Khmer]], ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, œ̆, and ŭ are used in Khmer romanization, e.g. ''siĕm reăp'' (Siem Reap).
* In the [[Syriac language]]s, ''ĕ'' is used to denote an "eh" or /ˈɛ/ sound.
* The [[ISO 259]] Romanization of Hebrew uses ''ă'', ''ḝ'', and ''ŏ'' for reduced vowels.
* In [[Spanish language|Spanish-language]] vocal music, a breve below is sometimes used to indicate [[elision#Spanish|elision]] across word boundaries, as in "por-que ̮en-ton-ces."
* In [[Malay language]], E with breve ''ĕ'' was used for [[schwa]] in [[Za'aba Spelling]].

== Letters with breve ==
{{Letters with diacritic/header}}<!--
-->{{hlist|{{Letters with diacritic/diacritic|format=char|d=breve}}<!--
-->{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Latin}}[[Ă|Ă{{NNBSP}}ă]]
| Ắ{{NNBSP}}ắ
| Ằ{{NNBSP}}ằ
| Ẳ{{NNBSP}}ẳ
| Ẵ{{NNBSP}}ẵ
| Ặ{{NNBSP}}ặ
| [[C̆|C̆{{NNBSP}}c̆]]
| Ĕ{{NNBSP}}ĕ
| Ḝ{{NNBSP}}ḝ
| [[Ğ|Ğ{{NNBSP}}ğ]]
| [[Ḫ|Ḫ{{NNBSP}}ḫ]]
| Ĭ{{NNBSP}}ĭ
| K̆{{NNBSP}}k̆
| M̆{{NNBSP}}m̆
| N̆{{NNBSP}}n̆
| Ŏ{{NNBSP}}ŏ
| Œ̆{{NNBSP}}œ̆
| P̆{{NNBSP}}p̆
| R̆{{NNBSP}}r̆
| T̆{{NNBSP}}t̆
| [[Ŭ|Ŭ{{NNBSP}}ŭ]]
| [[V̆|V̆{{NNBSP}}v̆]]
| [[X̆|X̆{{NNBSP}}x̆]]
| [[Y̆|Y̆{{NNBSP}}y̆]]<!--
-->{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Greek}}[[Ᾰ|Ᾰ<!-- U+1FB8 -->{{NNBSP}}ᾰ]]<!-- U+1FB0 -->
| [[Ῐ|Ῐ<!-- U+1FD8 -->{{NNBSP}}ῐ]]<!-- U+1FD0 -->
| [[Ῠ|Ῠ<!-- U+1FE8 -->{{NNBSP}}ῠ]]<!-- U+1FE0 --><!--
-->{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Cyrillic}}[[Ӑ|Ӑ<!-- U+04D0 -->{{NNBSP}}ӑ]]<!-- U+04D1 -->
| [[Ӗ|Ӗ<!-- U+04D6 -->{{NNBSP}}ӗ]]<!-- U+04D7 -->
| [[Ӂ|Ӂ<!-- U+04C1 -->{{NNBSP}}ӂ]]<!-- U+04C2 -->
| [[Й|Й<!-- U+0419 -->{{NNBSP}}й]]<!-- U+0439 -->
| [[Ў|Ў<!-- U+040E -->{{NNBSP}}ў]]<!-- U+045E -->
}}{{Letters with diacritic/footer}}<!--

-->

==Breve below<span class="anchor" id="Combining breve below"></span>==
The '''breve below''' is a diacritic with the same appearance as the conventional breve, except that it is placed under the letter (or space) to be marked. There are just two precomposed character code-points: {{unichar|1E2A|Latin capital letter H with breve below|nlink=Ḫ}} and {{unichar|1E2B|Latin small letter h with breve below}}. For other uses, it is rendered as a [[combining character]], {{unichar|032E|Combining breve below|cwith=◌}}. 

Traditional editions of Spanish vocal sheet music use the 'breve below'  to indicate [[elision#Spanish|elision]]. Modern editions tend to use a (freestanding) [[underscore]].

== Encoding <span class="anchor" id="Combining breve"></span>==
{{see also|Unicode input}}
[[Unicode]] codepoints for breve characters.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Letter !! Unicode 
|-
| Breve (spacing)
| {{char|˘}} || {{unichar|02D8}} 
|-
| [[combining character|Combining]] breve
| <span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̆}}</span> || {{unichar|0306|cwith=◌}}
|-
| Combining breve below
| <span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̮}}</span> || {{unichar|032E|cwith=◌}}
|-
| Combining double breve
| <span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌͝◌}}</span> || {{unichar|035D|cwith=◌}}
|-
| Combining double breve below
| <span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌͜◌}}</span> || {{unichar|035C|cwith=◌}}
|-
| Breve with [[inverted breve]] (spacing)
| {{char|꭛}} || {{unichar|AB5B}}
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Latin
|-
| [[Ă|A-breve]]
| Ă<br />ă || {{unichar|0102}}<br />{{unichar|0103}}
|-
| E-breve
| Ĕ<br />ĕ || {{unichar|0114}}<br />{{unichar|0115}}
|-
| I-breve
| Ĭ<br />ĭ
| {{unichar|012C}}<br />{{unichar|012D}}
|-
| O-breve
| Ŏ<br />ŏ || {{unichar|014E}}<br />{{unichar|014F}}
|-
| [[Ŭ|U-breve]]
| Ŭ<br />ŭ  || {{unichar|016C}}<br />{{unichar|016D}} 
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Azerbaijani, Tatar, Turkish
|-
| [[Ğ|G-breve]]
| Ğ<br />ğ || {{unichar|011E}}<br />{{unichar|011F}} 
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Vietnamese
|-
| A-sắc-breve
| Ắ<br />ắ
| {{unichar|1EAE}}<br />{{unichar|1EAF}}
|-
| A-huyền-breve
| Ằ<br />ằ
| {{unichar|1EB0}}<br />{{unichar|1EB1}}
|-
| A-hỏi-breve
| Ẳ<br />ẳ || {{unichar|1EB2}}<br />{{unichar|1EB3}}
|-
| A-ngã-breve
| Ẵ<br />ẵ || {{unichar|1EB4}}<br>{{unichar|1EB5}}
|-
| A-nặng-breve
| Ặ<br />ặ || {{unichar|1EB6}}<br />{{unichar|1EB7}}
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Cyrillic
|-
| A-breve
| Ӑ<br />ӑ || {{unichar|04D0}}<br />{{unichar|04D1}}
|-
| Ye-breve
| Ӗ<br />ӗ || {{unichar|04D6}}<br />{{unichar|04D7}}
|-
| [[Zhe with breve|Zhe-breve]]
| Ӂ<br />ӂ || {{unichar|04C1}}<br />{{unichar|04C2}}
|-
| [[Short I]]
| Й<br />й || {{unichar|0419}}<br />{{unichar|0439}}
|-
| [[O with breve (Cyrillic)|O-breve]]
| О̆<br />о̆ || {{unichar|041E}} {{unichar|0306}}<br />{{unichar|043E}} {{unichar|0306}}
|-
| [[Short U (Cyrillic)|Short U]]
| Ў<br />ў || {{unichar|040E}}<br />{{unichar|045E}}
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Greek
|-
| [[alpha (letter)|Alpha]] with brachy
| Ᾰ<br />ᾰ || {{unichar|1FB8}}<br />{{unichar|1FB0}}
|-
| [[Iota]] with brachy
| Ῐ<br />ῐ || {{unichar|1FD8}}<br />{{unichar|1FD0}}
|-
| [[Upsilon]] with brachy
| Ῠ<br />ῠ || {{unichar|1FE8}}<br />{{unichar|1FE0}}
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Arabic, Hittite, Akkadian, Egyptian transliteration<ref name="U1E00">{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1E00.pdf|title=Code chart for Latin Extended Additional (U+1E00–U+1EFF)|work=The Unicode Standard|access-date=2016-11-12}}</ref>
|-
| [[Ḫ|H-breve below]]
| Ḫ<br />ḫ || {{unichar|1E2A}}<br />{{unichar|1E2B}}
|-
| colspan="4" {{rh}} | Hebrew transliteration<ref name="U1E00"/>
|-
| E-cedilla-breve
| Ḝ<br />ḝ || {{unichar|1E1C}}<br />{{unichar|1E1D}}
|}

== See also ==
* [[Inverted breve]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[http://diacritics.typo.cz Diacritics Project — All you need to design a font with correct accents]

{{Navbox diacritical marks}}
{{Latin script||breve}}

[[Category:Greek-script diacritics]]
[[Category:Poetic rhythm]]
[[Category:Latin-script diacritics]]
[[Category:Cyrillic-script diacritics]]