acute accent

Meaning

A diacritical mark (´) placed over a vowel, such as in 'é', 'á', or 'ó', to indicate a specific pronunciation, often a stressed or higher-pitched sound, and to distinguish words that are otherwise spelled the same.

Examples

• The French word 'résumé' uses an acute accent on both 'e's.
• In Spanish, the acute accent can change the meaning of a word, like 'papa' (potato) versus 'papá' (dad).