ogonek

See also: Ogonek

English

WOTD – 28 December 2006

Etymology

From Polish ogonek (literally “little tail”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊɡənɛk/, /ɒˈɡɒnɛk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈoʊɡənɛk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ɔˈɡɔnɛk/ (using the original Polish pronunciation of the word)
• Rhymes: -ɒnɛk

Noun

ogonek (plural ogoneks)

1. (orthography) A hook-shaped diacritical mark ⟨◌̨⟩ attached underneath a vowel, typically to indicate nasalization, as in Ąą, Ęę, Įį, Ǫǫ or Ųų.

   Hypernym: diacritical hook

   • 2023, Mia Cinelli, Giving Type Meaning: Context and Craft in Typography‎^[1], Bloomsbury, →ISBN:

     The pangram “Pchnąć w tę łódź jeża lub ośm skrzyń fig” (To push a hedgehog or eight boxes of figs into that boat) highlights a few of the language-specific diacritical marks, such as L with stroke (ł) and ogoneks (ą, ę) necessary to write in Polish—demonstrating how a writing system can accommodate many languages with thorough character inclusion.

Coordinate terms

• cedilla

Translations

diacritical mark

• Apache:

  Chiricahua: please add this translation if you can

  Western Apache: please add this translation if you can

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: аго́нэк m (ahónek), хво́сцік m (xvóscik) (colloquial, "little tail")
• Cayuga: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 反尾形符 (fǎnwěixíngfú)

• Creek: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: ocásek m
• Danish: ogonek c
• Dogrib: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: ogonek (nl) m or f
• Elfdalian: nevkruok
• Esperanto: ogoneko
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} pöördsedii
• Faroese: krókur m
• Finnish: ogonek (fi), häntä (fi)
• French: ogonek (fr) m
• German: Ogonek (de) n
• Gwich'in: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: זנב (he) m (zanáv)
• Hungarian: ogonek (hu), horog (hu), jobb farok, (informal) farkinca (hu)
• Italian: ogonek m, codetta f, uncino (it) m
• Japanese: オゴネク (ogoneku)
• Kashubian: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 오고넥 (ogonek)
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: nosinė f
• Navajo: please add this translation if you can
• Northern Tutchone: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian: kvist m
• Old Norse: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: اگنک (ogonek)
• Polish: ogonek (pl) m
• Russian: ого́нэк (ru) m (ogónɛk), хво́стик (ru) m (xvóstik) (colloquial, "little tail")
• Slovak: nožička f
• Southern Tutchone: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: ogonek m, colita (es) f
• Swedish: svans (sv) c
• Ukrainian: ого́нек m (ohónek), хво́стик m (xvóstyk) (colloquial, "little tail")
• Winnebago: sįįc

Polish

Etymology

From ogon (“tail”) +‎ -ek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔˈɡɔ.nɛk/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnɛk
• Syllabification: o‧go‧nek
• Homophone: Ogonek

Noun

ogonek m inan (diminutive ogoneczek, related adjective ogonkowy)

1. diminutive of ogon
2. (botany) stem, stalk, petiole
3. queue
4. (orthography) ogonek (diacritical mark)
5. (orthography, by extension, nonstandard) any diacritical mark
   • 1999 April 23, Andrzej Bigus, Ogolnie syf‎^[2]:

     Ponieważ jednak znaczek "ł" nie występuję w iso-8859-1, a że uskuteczniam wymianę pocztową z zagranicznikami, postanowiłem, że nieoficjalnie imię będę pisał tak, jak w pisowni oryginalnej, tj. Tomislav (w dowodzie mam Tomisław), nazwisko zaś okroję z ogonka nad "ń".

     Because as it turns out the letter "ł" doesn't show up in iso-8859-1, and the fact I'm realizing the postal exchange with foreigners, I decided that I'll unoffocially write my name in its original orthography, that is Tomislav (on my ID I have Tomisław), and I cut out the diacritic over "ń" in my last name.

   • 2000, Kazimierz Ożog, editor, Polonistyka zintegrowana, page 60:

     […] dopisano ogonki, czyli znaki diakrytyczne, by oznaczyć takimi literami np. głoski ż, ś, ć, ę, ą.

     Ogoneks are added, in other words diacritic marks in order to mark them with these letters, e.g. the sounds ż, ś, ć, ę, ą.

   • 2003, Bartek Chaciński, Wypasiony słownik najmłodszej polszczyzny, page 91:

     Ten zawiera wszystkie potrzebne "ogonki", to znaczy ą, ę, ć, ł i tak dalej."

     This one contains all the needed diacritics, that is ą, ę, ć, ł and so forth.

Declension

Declension of ogonek

	singular	plural
nominative	ogonek	ogonki
genitive	ogonka	ogonków
dative	ogonkowi	ogonkom
accusative	ogonek	ogonki
instrumental	ogonkiem	ogonkami
locative	ogonku	ogonkach
vocative	ogonku	ogonki

Related terms

adjectives

• ogonowy

nouns

• ogon

Descendants

• → Belarusian: аго́нэк (ahónek)
• → English: ogonek
• → Esperanto: ogoneko
• → German: Ogonek
• → Russian: ого́нэк (ogónɛk)
• → Ukrainian: ого́нек (ohónek)

Further reading

• ogonek in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• ogonek in Polish dictionaries at PWN