Word.ws English Dictionary

circumflex

UK/ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks//ˈsɝ.kəmˌflɛks/

circumflex noun: a diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.

Noun

circumflex (plural circumflexes)

  1. A diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.

Adjective

circumflex

  1. Having a circumflex mark.
    • ê is e circumflex.
  2. Curving around.
    • The circumflex coronary artery

Verb

circumflex (third-person singular simple present circumflexes, present participle circumflexing, simple past and past participle circumflexed)

  1. To mark or pronounce with a circumflex.
    • to circumflex a syllable
    • those words […]circumflexed on the last syllabe1791, John Walker, Critical Pronouncing Dictionary
  2. (obsolete) To arch.
    • A venerable old man sitting in a chaire, with a severe aspect, wrinkled forehead, circumflex't eie-browes, great white curled beard.1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 105

circumflex meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Malay and Indonesian

circumflex in Tamil

சுற்றுவளை, வளைந்த, வளைவு, வில்லுரு

circumflex in Tagalog

circumflex accent
pakupya

circumflex in Malay

circumflex accent
sirkumfleks

circumflex in Indonesian

circumflex accent
sirkumfleks
More languagesFewer languages
circumflex in Vietnamese
dấu mũ, mũ

Synonyms of circumflex

Forms of circumflex

Noun
pluralcircumflexes
Verb
third-person singular presentcircumflexes
present participlecircumflexing
past participlecircumflexed
pastcircumflexed

Origin of circumflex

Learned borrowing from Latin circumflexus (“bent about”), calqued from Ancient Greek περισπώμενος (perispṓmenos, “drawn around”).

Words formed from circumflex

Phrases with circumflex

Questions about circumflex

What does circumflex mean?
Circumflex means a diacritical mark (ˆ) placed over a vowel in the orthography or transliteration of many languages to change its pronunciation; while in some other languages over a consonant.
What is circumflex in Tamil?
Circumflex in Tamil is சுற்றுவளை, வளைந்த, வளைவு. See Circumflex meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is circumflex?
Circumflex can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce circumflex?
Circumflex is pronounced /ˈsɜː.kəmˌflɛks/ (UK).
What is the plural of circumflex?
The plural of circumflex is circumflexes.

Words near circumflex in the dictionary

  1. circumflected
  2. circumflecting
  3. circumflection
  4. circumflections
  5. circumflects
  6. circumflex
  7. circumflex accent
  8. circumflex accents
  9. circumflexed
  10. circumflexes
  11. circumflexing

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: circumflex (page history and authors); circumflex (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-circumflex.ogg.

Cite this entry: “circumflex.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/circumflex. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.