accent mark
accent mark — noun
1. a written mark placed on or near a letter in a word that shows how that letter i
a written mark placed on or near a letter in a word that shows how that letter is pronounced, for example by indicating which syllable is stressed.
Yara put an accent mark above the letter 'e' in 'café' to show the correct pronunciation.
accent mark + above [letter] for pronunciation
The Spanish word 'cómo' carries an accent mark on the 'o' because the stress falls on the first syllable.
showing stress position with accent mark
When learning French, Erik struggled to remember which accent mark to write on the letter 'a'.
Hao's teacher explained that an accent mark can completely change the meaning of a word in Vietnamese.
Without the accent mark, the Portuguese word 'sabia' and 'sabiá' refer to entirely different things.
- diacritic
a more technical, broader term that includes any mark added to a letter across all writing systems
- diacritical mark
the formal name for any mark that changes a letter's sound value; used in linguistics and typography
- stress mark
specifically refers to accent marks that show which syllable is stressed, not those that change vowel quality or tone
用法筆記
Frequently used in discussions of French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Vietnamese writing systems. The most common accent marks are the acute (´), grave (`), circumflex (ˆ), and tilde (~).
常見錯誤
2. a printed symbol placed above or below a note in written music that instructs th
a printed symbol placed above or below a note in written music that instructs the performer to play that note louder, harder, or with extra force.
The conductor pointed to the accent mark above the trumpet's note and asked Andrés to play it more strongly.
accent mark + above [note] + instructs performer
Gita noticed the accent marks on the third beat of every bar and pressed those piano keys with extra energy.
The conductor pointed to accent marks on the first beat and told Alessia to play those notes harder.
The drummer missed several accent marks during the rehearsal, so the rhythm sounded flat and even throughout.
- stress mark
used interchangeably in music contexts, though more common for language stress
- dynamic accent
the formal music-theory term for playing a note with greater volume; broader than a written symbol
常見錯誤
3. a number written after a note letter in music theory, showing which octave that
a number written after a note letter in music theory, showing which octave that note belongs to.
Femi wrote a small '4' after the 'C' as an accent mark to show the fourth octave on the piano.
number after letter = accent mark for octave identification
Hiro checked the number 3 after each note in his piano book to find the correct octave.
accent mark + number after note for octave identification
Lakshmi saw the number 5 next to the note F and knew this accent mark meant the fifth octave.
Nora found that one sonata edition used number 4 for middle C while another used a small circle.
- octave designation
a broader term for any system that identifies which octave a note is in; 'accent mark' is one specific notation method
- octave number
the explicit numeric label after a note name, such as C₄ or G₃
用法筆記
This sense is almost exclusively used in academic music theory and textbooks. In practical sheet music, the placement of notes on the staff serves the same function. The 'accent mark' here is typically a subscript or superscript number, not a typographic accent symbol.