Have you ever looked at the word “naïveté” and wondered why we have little dots and accents hanging out above some of the letters? Well if so, you’re not alone! Julia Ganis asked this exact question on Bluesky.
Those little extras above (or sometimes below) letters are called diacritical marks, or diacritics for short. You can think of them as the accessories of the alphabet world — they’re not part of the basic letter, but they add a little something extra to tell us how to pronounce or understand a word.
In English, we usually prefer our letters plain and unadorned. But every now and then, we dress up our words with fancy marks.
So, let’s talk about why.
English’s complicated relationship with diacritics
English is famous for being a language that loves to borrow words from other languages. But although French, Spanish, and many other languages regularly use accent marks, English often gives borrowed words a makeover by removing their diacritical marks.
But some words stubbornly refuse to give up their accent marks. In English texts, words like “naïve,” “résumé,” and “fiancée” often show up with their original accents intact. It’s like these words have convinced English to let them keep their distinctive look. And there are actually some pretty good reasons that certain words get to keep their diacritical bling!
Sometimes those marks help us avoid pronunciation chaos. Take “naïveté” — it has two dots over the letter “i” (called a diaeresis) that tell us to pronounce the “i” and “v” as separate sounds, not as one smooshed-together sound. Without them, we might say something that sounds more like “nave-tay” instead of “nah-eev-tay.”
Some accent marks help us distinguish between words that would otherwise look identical. Think about “exposé” (a revealing report) versus “expose” (to uncover something). “Exposé” has an accent mark over the final “e” to help us tell the words apart.
And finally, some words keep their accents out of respect for their cultural heritage. These little marks remind us that English is a language that’s been shaped by lots of other languages and cultures over the centuries.
A quick guide to common diacritics
So, we already talked about the diaeresis — those two dots above the “i” in “naïveté.” Let’s meet some other common diacritics you’ll run into.
- The acute accent (é) points upward to the right, as you might see over the E in “café.” In words borrowed from French, it often indicates a specific pronunciation, like that raised “ay” sound at the end of “café.” Otherwise, we might be tempted to pronounce it “KAYF.”
- The grave accent (è) has nothing to do with spooky stuff. It’s the accent that leans left, appearing in words like “crème.” [CREHM] In French, it signals an “eh” sound (like in “bed”). But English speakers tend to ignore this pronunciation guide completely. We often say it like “cream,” regardless of the spelling. Of course, you’ll hear it pronounced correctly among lovers of French cuisine no matter where they live!
- The circumflex (ô) looks like a tiny pointed hat above letters in words like “crêpe.” In French, it often indicates a longer vowel sound and marks where an “s” disappeared historically. In English we mostly keep it as decoration.
- The cedilla (ç) adds a curvy tail beneath the letter “c” to create a soft “‘s” sound instead of a hard “k” sound. You might see it in the word “façade” where that little tail on the “c” tells us to say “fuh-sahd” rather than “fa-kayd.” So, this diacritic gives us a pronunciation guide that serves a real purpose in English!
- Finally, the tilde (ñ) is a little wavy line that sits above the letter “n” and creates that distinctive “ny” [NYUH] sound in Spanish words. English has dropped the tilde from most words, but we keep it in proper names and some borrowed terms to retain their authentic pronunciation, like “piñata” and “piña colada.”
‘The New Yorker’s’ famous diaeresis obsession
Of course, we couldn’t talk about diacritics without mentioning one famously obsessed publication. “The New Yorker” stands out in the publishing world for its commitment to the diaeresis — those two dots that appear over the second vowel in words like “coöperate” and “reëlect.” Most publications dropped this practice decades ago, but “The New Yorker” holds firm to this tradition, which dates all the way back to the publication’s founding in 1925.
The magazine maintains that the diaeresis serves an important purpose: it tells readers to pronounce both vowels separately rather than running them together. Basically, they believe it prevents us from reading the word “cooperate” as “COOP-er-ate.”
But in modern English, we usually understand these pronunciations without needing the extra marks. Still, at least you’ll know you’re probably reading “The New Yorker” whenever you see one! It’s almost part of the brand at this point.
Modern usage and evolution
Interestingly, you might actually see diacritics more often in the digital age. These days, smartphones and computers make it easier to type special characters, so a lot of writers opt to include them to preserve the original spellings of some words.
But when it comes to style guides, many of them take a flexible approach. The Associated Press Stylebook recommends including accent marks on proper names (like “Peña”) but makes them optional for common words like “cafe” or “resume.” The Chicago Manual of Style similarly allows writers to choose whether to use or drop diacritics in most cases.
If you find yourself deciding whether to use diacritical marks in your writing, keep these next guidelines in mind:
Essential diacritics help distinguish between words with different meanings. The accents in “résumé” — the thing you send to potential employers — helps differentiate it from “resume” — to continue. (Even so, you’ll see people use résumé without the diacritics if the context is clear.)
Next, names should always retain their original diacritics. When you’re writing about a person named González — with an accent over the “a” — or a weather pattern like El Niño — with a tilde over the second “n,” keeping these marks shows respect for linguistic and cultural identity.
Next, if you’re following a specific style guide, be sure to check what it says.
And finally, when in doubt, consistency matters more than strict rules. Choose one approach and stick with it.
The future of diacritics in English
So, back to Julia’s original question about “naïveté”: these marks persist because they serve multiple purposes. They guide pronunciation, preserve meaning, and maintain connections to the words’ origins.
Either way, the evolution of English shows us language rules aren’t set in stone. They shift and adapt as our communication needs change.