inverted circumflexes

Noun

inverted circumflex (plural inverted circumflexes)

1. A dipping tone.
   • The inflection, which begins upward and ends downward on the same syllable, called the circumflexed slide, is exemplified by the proper utterance of the word they in the succeeding instance:
     Not he, but they are in fault.
     And the inflection, which is just the reverse of this, namely, which begins...1810, Benjamin Humphrey Smart, A Practical Grammar of English Pronunciation, page 335
2. Any diacritic obtained by rotating a circumflex (ˆ) 180°.
   • This rising inflection will be indicated by an inverted circumflex ( ˇ ) being placed over the last syllable in the clause that bears the primary accent.1844, An Introduction to the Art of Reading, page 107
3. (informal) A háček.
   • In this way c surmounted by an inverted circumflex accent stands for our sound of ch, which in Russian, Polish, or Servian words, we usually see spelled cz.1876, Appletons’ Journal, XV, page 511