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Diaeresis (diacritic)
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<p>Diaeresis is a <a href="/facts/Diacritical_mark/Rw6lMzQW">diacritical mark</a> consisting of <a href="/facts/Two_dots_(diacritic)/QIDdkX2E">two dots</a> (◌̈) that indicates that two adjacent vowel letters are separate syllables – a <a href="/facts/Vowel_hiatus/DInsUYDx">vowel hiatus</a> (also called a diaeresis) – rather than a <a href="/facts/Digraph_(orthography)/wp3UgEyU">digraph</a> or <a href="/facts/Diphthong/K8tWRvsx">diphthong</a>. </p><p>It consists of a two dots diacritic placed over a letter, generally a <a href="/facts/Vowel/BNhCeFtH">vowel</a>. </p><p>The diaeresis diacritic indicates that two adjoining letters that would normally form a <a href="/facts/Digraph_(orthography)/wp3UgEyU">digraph</a> and be pronounced as one sound, are instead to be read as separate vowels in two syllables. For example, in the spelling "coöperate", the diaeresis reminds the reader that the word has four syllables, <i>co-op-er-ate</i>, not three, <i>*coop-er-ate</i>. In British English this usage has been considered obsolete for many years, and in US English, although it persisted for longer, it is now considered archaic as well. Nevertheless, it is still used by the US magazine <i><a href="/facts/The_New_Yorker/2RfeBrsR">The New Yorker</a></i>. In English language texts it is perhaps most familiar in the <a href="/facts/Loan_words/PWGYczgY">loan words</a> <i><a href="/facts/Na%25C3%25AFve/hGQTtqQU">naïve</a></i>, <i><a href="/facts/Noel_(given_name)/MHkgBWAK">Noël</a></i> and <i><a href="/facts/Chlo%25C3%25AB/11Fg4L70">Chloë</a></i>, and is also used officially in the name of the island <a href="/facts/Te%25C3%25A4n/1HYUHzWT">Teän</a> and of <a href="/facts/Co%25C3%25B6s_County%2c_New_Hampshire/3YqrtHuF">Coös County</a>. Languages such as <a href="/facts/Dutch_language/yIB5lbsx">Dutch</a>, <a href="/facts/Afrikaans/jYqEPHmA">Afrikaans</a>, <a href="/facts/Catalan_language/W2uTbK8Q">Catalan</a>, <a href="/facts/French_language/qe1DnaQh">French</a>, <a href="/facts/Galician_language/bGIhIvMX">Galician</a>, <a href="/facts/Greek_language/pzDd6eIz">Greek</a>, and <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a> make regular use of the diaeresis. (In some Germanic and other languages, the <a href="/facts/Umlaut_(diacritic)/FsYeoSzC">umlaut diacritic</a> has the same appearance but a different function.) </p>