umlaut en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈʊm.laʊt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈʌmlaʊt/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- (General-American) audio
- /ˈumlaʊt/ (General-American)
- /ˈʊm.laʊt/ (General-American)
Etymology
Etymology tree German um- Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz Proto-West Germanic *hlūd Old High German lūt Middle High German lūt German Laut German Umlautbor. English umlaut Borrowed from German Umlaut in the 19ᵗʰ century, from um- or um (“around, re-, trans-”) + Laut (“sound”), from Old High German hlūt. More at loud.
Meanings
-
An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants.
In fits of concealed despair that went unnoticed even by those close enough to touch, Julien cursed the language of umlauts, eszetts, and gerunds.
1997, Matthew Piepenburg, Time and the Maiden, →ISBN, page 62:A tittle is more or less the same thing (the dot over an i, for instance), except that it can be traced back to Medieval Latin for a little mark over or under a letter, such as an accent ague or a cedilla. I don't know whether an umlaut is one or two tittles. Maybe it's a jot and a tittle side by side.
2008, Roy Blount, Alphabet juice: the energies, gists, and spirits of letters:
- The umlaut process (as above) that occurred historically in Germanic languages whereby back vowels became front vowels when followed by syllable containing a front vocoid (e.g. Germanic lūsiz > Old English lȳs(i) > Modern English lice).
- A vowel so assimilated.
- The diacritical mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel when it indicates a (rounded) front vowel
-
(informal) Synonym of diaeresis.
"Naïve" takes an umlaut because it is pronounced as two syllables.
California, like several other states, prohibits the use of diacritical marks or accents on official documents. That means no tilde (~), no accent grave (`), no umlaut (¨) and certainly no cedilla (¸).
2015 April 11, Tovin Lapan, “California birth certificates and accents: O’Connor alright, Ramón and José is not”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 04 Apr 2025:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| umlaute | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| umlauts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
umlautless · metal umlaut · heavy metal umlaut · umlautable · hungarumlaut
Relateds
Synonyms
diaeresis · vowel mutation · trema
Translations (74)
uk умла́ут (diacritical mark) · ga umlabht (diacritical mark) · nl umlaut (partial assimilation of a vowel) · de umgelauteter Vokal (vowel so assimilated) · ru умля́ут (diacritical mark) · es metafonía (partial assimilation of a vowel) · sv omljud (diacritical mark) · nn omlyd (diacritical mark) · pt umlaut (partial assimilation of a vowel) · cs přehláska (vowel so assimilated) · fi ääkkönen (vowel so assimilated) · fi vokaalinmukaus (partial assimilation of a vowel) · be умля́ўт (diacritical mark) · cy affeithiad (partial assimilation of a vowel) · ka უმლაუტი (diacritical mark) · bg умла́ут (diacritical mark) · vi um-lau (partial assimilation of a vowel) · pt umlaut (diacritical mark) · ru умла́ут (diacritical mark) · ar مُغَيِّرَة (diacritical mark) · da omlyd (partial assimilation of a vowel) · de Umlaut (diacritical mark) · es diéresis (diacritical mark) · is hljóðvarp (partial assimilation of a vowel) · fr tréma (diacritical mark) · de Halbdoppellaut (vowel so assimilated) · nb omlyd (diacritical mark) · pt metafonia (partial assimilation of a vowel) · cy didolnod (diacritical mark) · eo surdupunkto (diacritical mark) · ka უმლაუტი (partial assimilation of a vowel) · ru умля́ут (partial assimilation of a vowel) · kk умлаут (diacritical mark) · mk преглас (partial assimilation of a vowel) · mk преглас (diacritical mark) · pt trema (diacritical mark) · tr umlaut (diacritical mark) · hu tréma (diacritical mark) · sk dve bodky (diacritical mark) · bg преглас (partial assimilation of a vowel) · de Umlaut (vowel so assimilated) · fi umlaut (partial assimilation of a vowel) · ja ウムラウト (diacritical mark) · cmn 變元音 /变元音 (vowel so assimilated) · de Umlaut (partial assimilation of a vowel) · sv omljud (partial assimilation of a vowel) · hu umlaut (diacritical mark) · br metafoniezh (partial assimilation of a vowel) · cmn 分音符 (diacritical mark) · fr métaphonie (partial assimilation of a vowel) · cmn 元音變音 /元音变音 (partial assimilation of a vowel) · cs přehláska (partial assimilation of a vowel) · nl umlaut (diacritical mark) · it metafonesi (partial assimilation of a vowel) · ko 움라우트 (diacritical mark) · pl umlaut (partial assimilation of a vowel) · vo vokät (diacritical mark) · et täpitäht (vowel so assimilated) · ru умла́ут (partial assimilation of a vowel) · ar مُغَيِّرَة (partial assimilation of a vowel) · is tvídepill (diacritical mark) · da omlyd (diacritical mark) · pl umlaut (diacritical mark) · ja ウムラウト (partial assimilation of a vowel) · eo umlaŭto (diacritical mark) · et täpid (diacritical mark) · el διαλυτικά (diacritical mark) · vi dấu um-lau (diacritical mark) · szl umlaut (partial assimilation of a vowel) · he אומלאוט (diacritical mark) · el μεταφωνία (partial assimilation of a vowel) · de Umlautzeichen (diacritical mark) · fi treema (diacritical mark) · cmn 分音符號 /分音符号 (diacritical mark)