cedilla

noun

ce·​dil·​la si-ˈdi-lə 

: the diacritical mark ¸ placed under a letter (such as ç in French) to indicate an alteration or modification of its usual phonetic value (as in the French word façade)

Examples of cedilla in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples include Spanish or French words like jalapeño (tilde), fiancé (acute), très (accent grave), Noël (diaeresis), façade (cedilla) or hôpital (circumflex). —Marc Saltzman, USA TODAY, 19 Mar. 2022

In Latvian, it is written with a cedilla under the l, but is sometimes rendered Aliona, Aljona or Alyona. —Ben Rothenberg, New York Times, 8 July 2017

Word History

Etymology

Spanish, the obsolete letter ç (actually a medieval form of the letter z), cedilla, from diminutive of ceda, zeda the letter z, from Late Latin zeta — more at zed

First Known Use

1599, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

cedilla

noun

ce·​dil·​la si-ˈdil-ə 

: a mark placed under the letter c (as ç) to show that it is to be pronounced like s

Etymology

from Spanish cedilla "mark under a c," originally a name for the obsolete letter ç, from ceda, zeda "the letter z," derived from Greek zēta "zeta"