accent

CEFRB1

/ˈak.sənt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A way of pronouncing words that shows where someone is from.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra emphasis given to a particular sound, word, or feature.

Examples

  • He is a foreigner, as is evident from his accent.

  • Judging from his accent, he must be from Osaka.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Also pronounced

  • /-sɛnt/
  • /ˈæk.sɛnt/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A mark used in writing, in order to indicate the place of the spoken stress.

  2. Emphasis or importance in general.

  3. A higher-pitched or stronger (louder or longer) articulation of a particular syllable of a word or phrase in order to distinguish it from the others or to emphasize it.

More examples

In context

  • At this hotel, the accent is on luxury.

  • In the word "careful", the accent is placed on the first syllable.

  • The name Cézanne is written with an acute accent.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her strong southern blank made her speech easily distinguishable from the locals here.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Anglo-Norman accentbor. Middle English accent English accent Inherited from Middle English accent, from Medieval Latin accentus and Old French accent, acent, both from Latin accentus, past participle of accinō (“sing to, sing along”), from ad- + canō (“to sing”). The word accent had been borrowed into Old English already, but was lost and reborrowed in Middle English.