View source for Grave accent

{{Short description|Diacritic used in many languages (◌̀)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2019}}{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2010}}
{{Infobox diacritic|char=◌̀
|name=Grave accent
|unicode={{unichar|0300|Combining grave accent |cwith=◌}} (diacritic)
|see_also={{plainlist|
* {{unichar|0060|grave accent |nlink=backtick}} ('backtick' symbol)
* {{unichar|02CB|modifier letter grave accent}} (diacritic)
}}}}
{{Orthography notation}}

The '''grave accent''' ('''<span style="font-family: serif">{{char|◌̀}}</span>''') <!-- This sample 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. --> ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|r|eɪ|v}} {{respell|GRAYV}}<ref name="AHD">{{Citation |author=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |url=https://ahdictionary.com/ |postscript=. |access-date=9 August 2018 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925104737/https://ahdictionary.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="OxfordDictionaries">{{Citation |author=Oxford Dictionaries |author-link=OxfordDictionaries.com |title=Oxford Dictionaries Online |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010516042450/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 May 2001 |postscript=.}}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|ɡ|r|ɑː|v}} {{respell|GRAHV}}<ref name="AHD"/><ref name="OxfordDictionaries"/>) is a [[diacritical]] mark used to varying degrees in [[French language|French]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]] and many other Western European languages as well as for a few unusual uses in [[English language|English]]. It is also used in other languages using the Latin alphabet, such as [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]] and [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]], and with non-Latin writing systems such as the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] alphabets and the [[Bopomofo]] or Zhuyin Fuhao [[semi-syllabary]]. It has no single meaning, but can indicate pitch, stress, or other features.

For the most commonly encountered uses of the accent in the Latin and Greek alphabets, [[precomposed character]]s are available. For less-used and compound diacritics, a [[combining character]] facility is available. A free-standing version of the symbol ({{char|`}}), commonly called a [[backtick]], also exists and has acquired other uses.

==Uses==

===Pitch===
{{See also|Ancient Greek accent}}
The grave accent first appeared in the [[Greek diacritics|polytonic orthography]] of [[Ancient Greek]] to mark a lower [[pitch accent|pitch]] than the high pitch of the [[acute accent]]. In modern practice, it replaces an acute accent in the last syllable of a word when that word is followed immediately by another word. The grave and [[circumflex]] have been replaced with an acute accent in the modern monotonic orthography.

The accent mark was called {{wikt-lang|grc|βαρεῖα}}, the feminine form of the adjective {{wikt-lang|grc|βαρύς}} ({{grc-transl|βαρύς}}), meaning 'heavy' or 'low in pitch'. This was [[calque]]d (loan-translated) into [[Latin]] as {{wikt-lang|la|gravis}} which then became the English word ''grave''.

===Stress===
The grave accent marks the [[Stress (linguistics)|stressed vowels]] of words in [[Maltese language|Maltese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], and [[Italian language|Italian]].

A general rule in [[Italian language|Italian]] is that words that end with stressed {{lang|it|-a}}, {{lang|it|-i}}, or {{lang|it|-u}} must be marked with a grave accent. Words that end with stressed {{lang|it|-e}} or {{lang|it|-o}} may bear either an [[acute accent]] or a grave accent, depending on whether the final ''e'' or ''o'' sound is [[close vowel|closed]] or [[open vowel|open]], respectively. Some examples of words with a final grave accent are {{lang|it|città}} ('city'), {{Lang|it|così}} ('so/then/thus'), {{Lang|it|più}} ('more, plus'), {{lang|it|Mosè}} ('Moses'), and {{lang|it|portò}} ('[he/she/it] brought/carried'). Typists who use a keyboard without accented characters and are unfamiliar with [[input methods]] for typing accented letters sometimes use a separate grave accent or even an [[apostrophe]] instead of the proper accent character. This is nonstandard but is especially common when typing capital letters: *{{typo|{{lang|it|E`}}}} or *{{typo|{{lang|it|E'}}}} instead of {{lang|it|È}} ('[he/she/it] is'). Other mistakes arise from the misunderstanding of [[apocope|truncated]] and [[elision|elided]] words: the phrase {{lang|it|un po'}} ('a little'), which is the truncated version of {{lang|it|un poco}}, may be mistakenly spelled as *{{typo|{{lang|it|un pò}}}}. Italian has word pairs where one has an accent marked and the other not, with different pronunciation and meaning—such as {{lang|it|pero}} ('pear tree') and {{lang|it|però}} ('but'), and {{lang|it|papa}} ('pope') and {{lang|it|papà}} ('dad'); the latter example is also valid for [[Catalan language|Catalan]].

In [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]], the grave accent sometimes appears on the vowels {{lang|bg|а̀}}, {{lang|bg|о̀}}, {{lang|bg|у̀}}, {{lang|bg|ѐ}}, {{lang|bg|ѝ}}, {{lang|bg|ъ̀}}, {{lang|bg|я̀}}, and {{lang|bg|ю̀}} to mark stress. It most commonly appears in books for children or foreigners, and dictionaries—or to distinguish between near-[[homophone]]s: {{lang|bg|па̀ра}} ({{lang|bg-Latn|pàra}} 'steam, vapour') and {{lang|bg|пара̀}} ({{translit|bg|parà}}, 'cent, penny, money'), {{lang|bg|въ̀лна}} ({{translit|bg|vằlna}} 'wool') and {{lang|bg|вълна̀}} ({{translit|bg|vǎlnà}} 'wave'). While the stress is not marked most of the time a notable exception is the single-vowel word {{lang|bg|и}}: without an accent it denotes the 'and' conjunction ({{lang|bg|рокля и пола}} = 'dress and skirt') while stressed shows the possessive pronoun 'her' ({{lang|bg|роклята ѝ}} = 'her dress'). Hence the rule to always mark the stress in this isolated case.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

In [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], the stress mark is orthographically required to distinguish [[homograph]]s (see {{slink||Disambiguation}}) and is put mostly on the vowels е and и. Then, it forces the stress on the accented word-syllable instead of having a different syllable in the stress group getting accented. In turn, it changes the pronunciation and the whole meaning of the group.

[[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], [[Rusyn language|Rusyn]], [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], and [[Russian language|Russian]] used a similar system until the first half of the 20th century. Now the main stress is preferably marked with an acute, and the role of the grave is limited to marking secondary stress in compound words (in dictionaries and linguistic literature).

In [[Croatian language|Croatian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], and [[Slovene language|Slovene]], the stressed syllable can be short or long and have a rising or falling tone. They use (in dictionaries, orthography, and grammar books, for example) four different stress marks (grave, acute, [[Double grave accent|double grave]], and inverted breve) on the letters a, e, i, o, r, and u: ''à è ì ò r̀ ù''. The system is identical in both Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Unicode forgot to encode R-grave when encoding the letters with stress marks.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

In modern [[Church Slavonic language|Church Slavonic]], there are three stress marks (acute, grave, and circumflex), which formerly represented different types of pitch accent. There is no longer any phonetic distinction between them, only an orthographical one. The grave is typically used when the stressed vowel is the last letter of a multiletter word.

In [[Ligurian (Romance language)|Ligurian]], the grave accent marks the accented short vowel of a word in {{lang|lij|à}} (sound {{IPA|[a]}}), {{lang|lij|è}} (sound {{IPA|[ɛ]}}), {{lang|lij|ì}} (sound {{IPA|[i]}}) and {{lang|lij|ù}} (sound {{IPA|[y]}}). For {{lang|lij|ò}}, it indicates the short sound of {{IPA|[o]}}, but may not be the stressed vowel of the word.{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

Although not its primary goal, the grave accent in [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] always marks an unstressed syllable in the words in which it is used, e.g. "àquilo" [aˈki.lu]. This contrasts with the [[circumflex]] and the [[acute accent]], which are always used on stressed vowels. For instance, ''ás'' (ace) is stressed ['as]~['aʃ], whereas ''às'' (to the, feminine) is not [as]~ [aʃ]. This accent is used in circumstances in which the article "a" overlaps with the preposition "a", such as in the phrase "Preciso ir à rodoviária.", or "Irei à praia." In those phrases, the feminine noun that comes after "à" requires an article and a preposition at the same time, and the accent serves to indicate that those functions merged into one word.

===Height===
The grave accent marks the [[vowel height|height or openness]] of the vowels ''e'' and ''o'', indicating that they are pronounced [[open-mid vowel|open]]: ''è'' {{IPA|[ɛ]}} (as opposed to ''é'' {{IPA|[e]}}); ''ò'' {{IPA|[ɔ]}} (as opposed to ''ó'' {{IPA|[o]}}), in several [[Romance languages]]:
* [[Catalan language|Catalan]] uses the accent on three letters ({{lang|ca|a}}, {{lang|ca|e}}, and {{lang|ca|o}}).
* [[French orthography]] uses the accent on three letters ({{lang|fr|a}}, {{lang|fr|e}}, and {{lang|fr|u}}).
** The {{lang|fr|ù}} is used in only one word, {{lang|fr|[[wikt:où#French|où]]}} ('where'), to distinguish it from its homophone {{lang|fr|[[wikt:ou#French|ou]]}} ('or').
** The {{lang|fr|à}} is used in only a small [[closed class]] of words, including {{lang|fr|[[wikt:à#French|à]]}}, {{lang|fr|[[wikt:là#French|là]]}}, and {{lang|fr|[[wikt:çà#French|çà]]}} (homophones of {{lang|fr|[[wikt:a#French|a]]}}, {{lang|fr|[[wikt:la#French|la]]}}, and {{lang|fr|[[wikt:ça#French|ça]]}}, respectively), and {{lang|fr|[[:wikt:déjà|déjà]]}}.
** The {{lang|fr|è}} is used more broadly to represent the vowel {{IPA|/ε/}}, in positions where a plain {{lang|fr|e}} would be pronounced as {{IPA|/ə/}} ([[schwa]]). Many verb conjugations contain regular alternations between {{lang|fr|è}} and {{lang|fr|e}}; for example, the accent mark in the present tense verb {{lang|fr|l'''è'''ve}} {{IPA|[l'''ε'''v]}} distinguishes the vowel's pronunciation from the [[schwa]] in the infinitive, {{lang|fr|l'''e'''ver}} {{IPA|[l'''ə'''ve]}}.
* [[Italian language|Italian]]
* [[Occitan language|Occitan]]
* [[Ligurian (Romance language)|Ligurian]] also uses the grave accent to distinguish the sound {{IPA|[o]}}, written {{lang|lij|ò}}, from the sound {{IPA|[u]}}, written {{lang|lij|ó}} or {{Lang|lij|o}}.

=== Disambiguation ===
In several languages, the grave accent distinguishes both [[homophones]] and words that otherwise would be [[homograph]]s:
* In [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] and [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], it distinguishes the conjunction {{lang|bg|и}} ('and') from the short-form feminine possessive pronoun {{lang|bg|ѝ}}.
* In [[Catalan language|Catalan]], it distinguishes homophone words such as {{lang|ca|ma}} ('my (f)') and {{lang|ca|mà}} ('hand').
* In [[French language|French]], the grave accent on the letters {{lang|fr|a}} and {{lang|fr|u}} has no effect on pronunciation and just distinguishes homonyms otherwise spelled the same, for example the preposition {{lang|fr|à}} ('to/belonging to/towards') from the verb {{lang|fr|a}} ('[he/she/it] has') as well as the adverb {{lang|fr|là}} ('there') and the feminine [[definite article]] {{lang|fr|la}}; it is also used in the words {{lang|fr|déjà}} ('already'), {{lang|fr|deçà}} (preceded by {{lang|fr|en}} or {{lang|fr|au}}, and meaning 'closer than, inferior to (a given value)'), the phrase {{lang|fr|çà et là}} ('hither and thither'; without the accents, it would literally mean 'it and the') and its functional synonym {{lang|fr|deçà, delà}}. It is used on the letter {{lang|fr|u}} only to distinguish {{lang|fr|où}} ('where') and {{lang|fr|ou}} ('or'). {{lang|fr|È}} is rarely used to distinguish homonyms except in {{lang|fr|dès}}/{{lang|fr|des}} ('since/some'), {{lang|fr|ès}}/{{lang|fr|es}} ('in/[thou] art'), and {{lang|fr|lès}}/{{lang|fr|les}} ('near/the').
* In [[Italian language|Italian]], it distinguishes, for example, the feminine article {{lang|it|la}} from the adverb {{lang|it|là}} ('there').
* In [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] (both [[Bokmål]] and [[Nynorsk]]), the grave accent separates words that would otherwise be identical: {{lang|no|og}} 'and' and {{lang|no|òg}} 'too'. Popular usage, possibly because Norwegian rarely uses diacritics, often leads to a grave accent in place of an [[acute accent]].
* In [[Romansh language|Romansh]], it distinguishes (in the {{lang|rm|Rumantsch Grischun}} standard) {{lang|rm|e}} ('and') from the verb form {{lang|rm|è}} ('he/she/it is') and {{lang|rm|en}} ('in') from {{lang|rm|èn}} ('they are'). It also marks distinctions of stress ({{lang|rm|gia}} 'already' vs. {{lang|rm|gìa}} 'violin') and of vowel quality ({{lang|rm|letg}} 'bed' vs. {{lang|rm|lètg}} 'marriage').

===Length===
In [[Welsh language|Welsh]], the accent denotes a [[vowel length|short vowel]] sound in a word that would otherwise be pronounced with a long vowel sound: {{lang|cy|mẁg}} {{IPA|cy|mʊɡ|}} 'mug' versus {{lang|cy|mwg}} {{IPA|ch|muːɡ|}} 'smoke'.

In [[Scottish Gaelic]], it denotes a long vowel, such as {{lang|gd|cùis}} {{IPA|gd|kʰuːʃ|}} ('subject'), compared with {{lang|gd|cuir}} {{IPA|gd|kʰuɾʲ|}} ('put'). The use of acute accents to denote the rarer close long vowels, leaving the grave accents for the open long ones, is seen in [[Scottish Gaelic orthography#Defunct combinations|older texts]], but it is no longer allowed according to the [[Scottish Gaelic orthography|new orthographic conventions]].

===Tone===
In some [[tonal language]]s such as [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], and [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]] (when it is written in [[Hanyu Pinyin]] or [[Bopomofo|Zhuyin Fuhao]]), the grave accent indicates a falling [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]. The alternative to the grave accent in Mandarin is the numeral 4 after the syllable: pà = pa4.

In [[African languages]] and in [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], the grave accent often indicates a low tone: [[Nobiin language|Nobiin]] {{lang|fia|jàkkàr}} ('fishhook'), [[Yoruba language|Yoruba]] {{lang|yo|àgbọ̀n}} ('chin'), [[Hausa language|Hausa]] {{lang|ha|màcè}} ('woman').

The grave accent represents the low tone in [[Mohawk language|Kanien'kéha]] or Mohawk.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

===Other uses===
In [[Emilian dialects|Emilian]], a grave accent placed over ''e'' or ''o'' denotes both length and openness; ''è'' and ''ò'' represent {{IPA|[ɛː]}} and {{IPA|[ɔː]}}.

In [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], the grave accent is not placed over another character but is sometimes encountered as a typographically easier substitute for the [[ʻokina]]: ''Hawai`i'' instead of ''Hawaiʻi''.

In [[Philippine languages]], the grave accent (''paiwà'') is used to represent a [[glottal stop]] in the last vowel of the word with the stress occurring in the first or middle syllable such as in [[Tagalog language|Tagalog]] {{lang|tl|batà}} {{IPA|[ˈbataʔ]}} ('child').

In [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], the grave accent indicates the contraction of two consecutive vowels in adjacent words ([[crasis]]). For example, instead of {{lang|pt|a aquela hora}} ('at that hour'), one says and writes {{lang|pt|àquela hora}}.

In [[Romagnol]], a grave accent placed over ''e'' or ''o'' denotes both length and openness, representing {{IPA|[ɛ]}} and {{IPA|[ɔ]}}.

===English===
The grave accent, though rare in [[English language|English]] words, sometimes appears in poetry and song lyrics to indicate that a usually silent vowel is pronounced to fit the rhythm or meter. Most often, it is applied to a word that ends with -ed. For instance, the word ''looked'' is usually pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ʊ|k|t}} as a single syllable, with the ''e'' silent; when written as ''lookèd'', the ''e'' is pronounced: {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ʊ|k|ɪ|d}} ''look-ed''). In this capacity, it can also distinguish certain pairs of identically spelled words like the [[past tense]] of learn, ''learned'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɜːr|n|d}}, from the [[adjective]] ''learnèd'' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɜːr|n|ɪ|d}} (for example, "a very learnèd man").

A grave accent can also occur in a foreign (usually French) term which has not been [[Anglicisation|anglicised]]: for example, ''[[wikt:vis-à-vis|vis-à-vis]]'', ''[[pièce de résistance]]'' or ''[[crème brûlée]]''. It also may occur in an English name, often as an affectation, as for example in the case of [[Albert Ketèlbey]].

== Unicode <span class="anchor" id="Letters with grave"></span><span class="anchor" id="Combining grave accent"></span>==
{{more|Unicode input}}
[[Unicode]] encodes a number of cases of "letter with grave" as [[precomposed character]]s and these are displayed below. In addition, many more symbols may be composed using the [[combining character]] facility ({{unichar|0300|Combining grave accent|cwith=◌|nlink=combining character}} and {{unichar|0316|Combining grave accent below|cwith=◌|nlink=combining character}}) that may be used with any letter or other diacritic to create a customised symbol but this does not mean that the result has any real-world application and thus are not shown in the table. <!-- AND PLEASE DO NOT TRY TO ADD THEM -->

{{Letters with diacritic/header}}<!--
-->{{hlist|{{Letters with diacritic/diacritic|format=char|d=grave}}<!--
-->
{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Latin}}[[À|À{{NNBSP}}à]]
| [[Ầ|Ầ{{NNBSP}}ầ]]
| [[Ằ|Ằ{{NNBSP}}ằ]]
| [[È|È{{NNBSP}}è]]
| [[Ề|Ề{{NNBSP}}ề]]
| [[Ḕ|Ḕ{{NNBSP}}ḕ]]
| [[Ì|Ì{{NNBSP}}ì]]
| [[Ǹ|Ǹ{{NNBSP}}ǹ]]
| [[Ò|Ò{{NNBSP}}ò]]
| [[Ờ|Ờ{{NNBSP}}ờ]]
| [[Ồ|Ồ{{NNBSP}}ồ]]
| [[Ṑ|Ṑ{{NNBSP}}ṑ]]
|{{NNBSP}}[[ɔ̀]]
| [[S̀|S̀{{NNBSP}}s̀]]
| [[Ù|Ù{{NNBSP}}ù]]
| [[Ǜ|Ǜ{{NNBSP}}ǜ]]
| [[Ừ|Ừ{{NNBSP}}ừ]]
|{{NNBSP}}[[ʌ̀]]
| [[Ẁ|Ẁ{{NNBSP}}ẁ]]
| [[Ỳ|Ỳ{{NNBSP}}ỳ]]
| [[Z̀|Z̀{{NNBSP}}z̀]]
{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Greek}}[[Ὰ|Ὰ{{NNBSP}}ὰ]]
| [[Ὲ|Ὲ{{NNBSP}}ὲ]]
| [[Ὴ|Ὴ{{NNBSP}}ὴ]]
| [[Ὶ|Ὶ{{NNBSP}}ὶ]]
| [[Ὸ|Ὸ{{NNBSP}}ὸ]]
| [[Ὺ|Ὺ{{NNBSP}}ὺ]]
| [[Ὼ|Ὼ{{NNBSP}}ὼ]]
{{Letters with diacritic/scriptname|1=Cyrillic}}[[Ѐ|Ѐ{{NNBSP}}ѐ]]
| [[Ѝ|Ѝ{{NNBSP}}ѝ]]
}}{{Letters with diacritic/footer}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline|à}}
*{{Wiktionary-inline|è}}

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grave Accent}}
[[Category:Latin-script diacritics]]
[[Category:Greek-script diacritics]]
[[Category:Cyrillic-script diacritics]]