accent grave

English

Noun

accent grave

1. A grave accent.

Anagrams

• grave accent

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ak.sɑ̃ ɡʁav/

Noun

accent grave m (plural accents graves)

1. grave accent

   Antonym: accent aigu

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From French accent grave (“grave accent”), first part from French accent (“accent, manner or tone of speech”), from Middle French accent, from Old French acent, from Latin accentus (“accent, tone, accentuation”), past participle of accinō (“sing to, sing along”), from both ad- (“to”), from ad (“to, towards”), from Proto-Italic *ad (“toward, to, on, up to, for”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd (“to, at”) + and from canō (“I sing, recite, play”), from Proto-Italic *kanō (“to sing”), from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂n- (“to sing”).

Last part from French grave (“serious, low-pitched; back”), from Middle French grave, from Old French grave, from Latin gravis (“heavy, grave, serious”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷréh₂us (“heavy”), from *gʷreh₂- (“heavy”) + *-us (forms adjectives).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /akˈsaŋ.ɡrɑːʋ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːʋ
• Hyphenation: ac‧cent‧grave

Noun

accent grave m (definite singular accent graven, indefinite plural accent graver, definite plural accent gravene)

1. (orthography) a grave accent (a diacritic mark ( ` ) used in many languages to distinguish the pronunciations of vowels.)
   • 1985, Gerd Brantenberg, Ved fergestedet, page 153:

     [lærerinnen] kom med accent aigu og accent grave. Og det underlige skjedde at Frida Grytum i løpet av få uker hadde ført Paris inn i klasseværelset

     [the teacher] came with acute accent and grave accent. And the strange thing happened that in a few weeks Frida Grytum had brought Paris into the classroom

   Synonyms: gravis, gravistegn

   Antonyms: accent aigu, akutt, akutt aksent, akutt-tegn

Usage notes

The grave accent is not part of the Norwegian alphabet, however it appears in numerous words, especially from French; déjà vu (“déjà vu”), à la carte (“à la carte”), voilà (“ta-da, there it is”), crème brûlée (“crème brûlée”) and collège (“junior high school, secondary school”), but also from Italian; carità (“compassion”), omertà (“omertà”), podestà (“podesta”) and più mosso (“more moved, livelier”). Native Norwegian usage includes the word òg (“too, also, as well”). It is also used in certain names and places, such as Genève (“Geneva”), Liège (“Liège”) and Val-d’Isère (“Val-d’Isère”).

Related terms

• accent aigu (“acute accent”) and accent circonflexe (“circumflex”)

References

• grave “accent grave” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “accent grave” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).
• “grav aksent” in Store norske leksikon