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Macron (diacritic)
| ◌̄ | |
|---|---|
Macron | |
| U+00AF ¯ MACRON U+0304 ◌̄ COMBINING MACRON | |
| See also | |
| U+0331 ◌̱ COMBINING MACRON BELOW |
A macron (/ˈmækrɒn, ˈmeɪ-/ MAK-ron, MAY-) is a diacritical mark: it is a straight bar ¯ placed above a letter, usually a vowel. Its name derives from Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón) 'long' because it was originally used to mark long or heavy syllables in Greco-Roman metrics. It now more often marks a long vowel. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the macron is used to indicate a mid-tone; the sign for a long vowel is instead a modified triangular colon ⟨ː⟩.
The opposite is the breve ⟨˘⟩, which marks a short or light syllable or a short vowel.
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