Oxia

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈɒksɪə/, /É’kˈsiːə/
• Homophones: oxea

Alternative forms

• oxeia

Origin

From the Ancient Greek ὀξεῖᾰ, an elliptical use for ἡ ὀξεῖᾰ προσῳδῐ́ᾱ ("the acute accent") — ἡ#Ancient Greek (hē, the nominative feminine singular form of ὁ#Ancient Greek, ho, “the”, the definite article) + ὀξεῖα#Ancient Greek (okseia, the nominative feminine singular form of ὀξύς#Ancient Greek, oksus, “sharp”, of sound “shrill”, of tones “high-pitched”) + προσῳδία#Ancient Greek (prosōdiā, “variation in pitch of the speaking voice”, “pronunciation of a syllable on a certain pitch”, “a mark a diacritic indicating normally unwritten differences of pronunciation, viz. vowel quantity, breathing, and pitch”).

Full definition of oxia

Noun

1. (orthography and typography) An Ancient Greek Pitch accent-marking diacritic: ⟨ Â´ âŸ©; written atop vowel, it denote high pitch on short vowels, and rising pitch on long vowels and diphthong.

Usage notes

In a diphthong, the oxia is written atop the second of the two vowels.

The oxia is virtually identical in form to the Latin-script acute accent: ⟨ Â´ âŸ©.

The Modern Greek stress-marking diacritic, the tonos: ⟨ Î„ âŸ©, was originally designed as a vertical line, thereby constituting a compromise of forms between the Ancient Greek oxia and baria; nevertheless, the oxia and tonos have identical appearance in all but the most scrupulous typesetting.

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