Breve

◌̆
◌̆
Breve

Abreve(/ˈbriːv/^ⓘBREEV,less often/ˈbrɛv/^ⓘBREV,neuterform of theLatinbrevis"short, brief" ) is thediacriticmark◌̆,shaped like the bottom half of a circle. As used inAncient Greek,it is also calledbrachy,βραχύ.It resembles thecaron(◌̌,the wedge orháčekinCzech,mäkčeňinSlovak) but is rounded, in contrast to the angular tip of the caron. In many forms ofLatin,◌̆is used for a shorter, softer variant of a vowel, such as "Ĭ", where the sound is nearly identical to the English /i/. (See:Latin IPA)

Breve vs. caron
Breve	Ă ă Ĕ ĕ Ĭ ĭ Ŏ ŏ Ŭ ŭ Y̆ y̆
Caron	Ǎ ǎ Ě ě Ǐ ǐ Ǒ ǒ Ǔ ǔ Y̌ y̌

Length

The breve sign indicates a short vowel, as opposed to themacron(◌̄), which indicates long vowels, in academic transcription. It is often used that way in dictionaries and textbooks ofLatin,Ancient Greek,Tuaregand other languages. However, there is a frequent convention of indicating only the long vowels. It is then understood that a vowel with nomacronis short. If the vowel length is unknown, a breve as well as a macron are used in historical linguistics (Ā̆ ā̆ Ē̆ ē̆ Ī̆ ī̆ Ō̆ ō̆ Ū̆ ū̆ Ȳ̆ ȳ̆). InCyrillic script,a breve is used forЙ.InBelarusian,it is used for both the CyrillicЎ(semivowel U) and in the Latin (Łacinka)Ŭ.Ўwas also used in CyrillicUzbekunder theSoviet Union.TheMoldovan Cyrillic Alpha betuses a breve onӁto represent avoiced postalveolar affricate/d͡ʒ/(corresponding to⟨g⟩before a front vowel in the Latin script forMoldovan). InChuvash,a breve is used for Cyrillic letters Ӑ (A-breve) and Ӗ (E-breve). InItelmenorthography, it is used for Ӑ,О̆and Ў. The traditional Cyrillic breve differs in shape and is thicker on the edges of the curve and thinner in the middle, as opposed to the Latin one,^[1]but the Unicode encoding is the same.

InEmilian,ĕ ŏare used to represent[ɛ,ɔ]in dialects where also long[ɛː,ɔː]occur.

InEsperanto,uwith breve (ŭ) represents anon-syllabicuindiphthongs/u̯/,analogous to Belarusianў.

In the transcription ofSinhala,the breve over anmor annindicates aprenasalized consonant;for example,n̆dais used to represent[ⁿda].

In theInternational Phonetic Alphabet,a breve over a phonetic symbol is used to indicateextra-shortness.

Other uses

In other languages, it is used for other purposes.

InRomanian,Awith breve represents /ə/, as inmăr(apple).
G-breveappears in theAzerbaijani,Kazakh,Crimean Tatar,Tatar,andTurkishAlpha bets. In Turkish,ğlengthens the preceding vowel. It is thus placed between two vowels and is silent in standard Turkish but may be pronounced[ɰ]in some regional dialects or varieties closer toOttoman Turkish.
The breve, together with thecircumflexandhorn,are used in theVietnamese languageto represent additional vowels.
TheMcCune-Reischauerromanization system of theKorean Alpha bet's script uses breves overoanduto represent the vowels ㅓ (ŏ) and ㅡ (ŭ).^[2]
H-breve belowḪ ḫ is used to transliterate theArabiccharacterḪāʾ(خ) inDIN 31635.It is also used to transliterateAkkadian,Hittite cuneiform,andEgyptian hieroglyphs.
OnGerman languagemaps, a double breve is often used in abbreviated placenames that end in-b͝g.,short for-burg,a common suffix originally meaning "castle". This prevents misinterpretation as-berg,another common suffix in placenames (meaning "mountain" ). Thus, for example,Freib͝g.stands forFreiburg,notFreiberg.
Certain transcription systems for certainvarieties of Chineseemploy the breve to represent one of thetones,includingFoochow Romanizedfor theFuzhou dialectofEastern Min,andKienning Colloquial Romanizedfor theJian'ou dialectofNorthern Min(which also uses thecaron).
I-breve (Ĭ, ĭ) is used inDobrujan Tatarfor the [ɪ] sound.
InKhmer,ă, ĕ, ĭ, ŏ, œ̆, and ŭ are used in Khmer romanization, e.g.siĕm reăp(Siem Reap).
In theSyriac languages,ĕis used to denote an "eh" or /ˈɛ/ sound.
TheISO 259Romanization of Hebrew usesă,ḝ,andŏfor reduced vowels.
InSpanish-languagevocal music, a breve below is sometimes used to indicateelisionacross word boundaries, as in "por-que ̮en-ton-ces."
InMalay language,E with breveĕwas used forschwainZa'aba Spelling.

Letters with breve

Breve◌̆
Latin:Ă ă
Ắ ắ
Ằ ằ
Ẳ ẳ
Ẵ ẵ
Ặ ặ
C̆ c̆
Ĕ ĕ
Ḝ ḝ
Ğ ğ
Ḫ ḫ
Ĭ ĭ
K̆ k̆
M̆ m̆
N̆ n̆
Ŏ ŏ
Œ̆ œ̆
P̆ p̆
R̆ r̆
T̆ t̆
Ŭ ŭ
V̆ v̆
X̆ x̆
Y̆ y̆
Greek:Ᾰ ᾰ
Ῐ ῐ
Ῠ ῠ
Cyrillic:Ӑ ӑ
Ӗ ӗ
Ӂ ӂ
Й й
Ў ў

Breve below

Thebreve belowis diacritic with the same appearance as the conventional breve, except that it is placed under the letter (or space) to be marked. There are just two precomposed character code-points:U+1E2AḪLATIN CAPITAL LETTER H WITH BREVE BELOWandU+1E2BḫLATIN SMALL LETTER H WITH BREVE BELOW.For other uses, it is rendered as acombining character,U+032E◌̮COMBINING BREVE BELOW.

Traditional editions of Spanish vocal sheet music use the 'breve below' to indicateelision.Modern editions tend to use a (freestanding)underscore.

Encoding

UnicodeandHTMLcode (decimalnumeric character reference) for breve characters.

Name	Letter	Unicode
Breve (spacing)	˘	U+02D8˘BREVE
Combiningbreve	◌̆	U+0306◌̆COMBINING BREVE
Combining breve below	◌̮	U+032E◌̮COMBINING BREVE BELOW
Combining double breve	◌͝◌	U+035D◌͝COMBINING DOUBLE BREVE
Combining double breve below	◌͜◌	U+035C◌͜COMBINING DOUBLE BREVE BELOW
Breve withinverted breve(spacing)	꭛	U+AB5B꭛MODIFIER BREVE WITH INVERTED BREVE
Latin
A-breve	Ă ă	U+0102ĂLATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE U+0103ăLATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE
E-breve	Ĕ ĕ	U+0114ĔLATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH BREVE U+0115ĕLATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH BREVE
I-breve	Ĭ ĭ	U+012CĬLATIN CAPITAL LETTER I WITH BREVE U+012DĭLATIN SMALL LETTER I WITH BREVE
O-breve	Ŏ ŏ	U+014EŎLATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH BREVE U+014FŏLATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH BREVE
U-breve	Ŭ ŭ	U+016CŬLATIN CAPITAL LETTER U WITH BREVE U+016DŭLATIN SMALL LETTER U WITH BREVE
Azerbaijani, Tatar, Turkish
G-breve	Ğ ğ	U+011EĞLATIN CAPITAL LETTER G WITH BREVE U+011FğLATIN SMALL LETTER G WITH BREVE
Vietnamese
A-sắc-breve	Ắ ắ	U+1EAEẮLATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND ACUTE U+1EAFắLATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND ACUTE
A-huyền-breve	Ằ ằ	U+1EB0ẰLATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND GRAVE U+1EB1ằLATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND GRAVE
A-hỏi-breve	Ẳ ẳ	U+1EB2ẲLATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND HOOK ABOVE U+1EB3ẳLATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND HOOK ABOVE
A-ngã-breve	Ẵ ẵ	U+1EB4ẴLATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND TILDE U+1EB5ẵLATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND TILDE
A-nặng-breve	Ặ ặ	U+1EB6ẶLATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND DOT BELOW U+1EB7ặLATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE AND DOT BELOW
Cyrillic
A-breve	Ӑ ӑ	U+04D0ӐCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER A WITH BREVE U+04D1ӑCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE
Ye-breve	Ӗ ӗ	U+04D6ӖCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER IE WITH BREVE U+04D7ӗCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER IE WITH BREVE
Zhe-breve	Ӂ ӂ	U+04C1ӁCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER ZHE WITH BREVE U+04C2ӂCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER ZHE WITH BREVE
Short I	Й й	U+0419ЙCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHORT I U+0439йCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHORT I
O-breve	О̆ о̆	U+041EОCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER OU+0306̆COMBINING BREVE U+043EоCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER OU+0306̆COMBINING BREVE
Short U	Ў ў	U+040EЎCYRILLIC CAPITAL LETTER SHORT U U+045EўCYRILLIC SMALL LETTER SHORT U
Greek
Alphawith brachy	Ᾰ ᾰ	U+1FB8ᾸGREEK CAPITAL LETTER ALPHA WITH VRACHY U+1FB0ᾰGREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH VRACHY
Iotawith brachy	Ῐ ῐ	U+1FD8ῘGREEK CAPITAL LETTER IOTA WITH VRACHY U+1FD0ῐGREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH VRACHY
Upsilonwith brachy	Ῠ ῠ	U+1FE8ῨGREEK CAPITAL LETTER UPSILON WITH VRACHY U+1FE0ῠGREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH VRACHY
Arabic, Hittite, Akkadian, Egyptian transliteration^[3]
H-breve below	Ḫ ḫ	U+1E2AḪLATIN CAPITAL LETTER H WITH BREVE BELOW U+1E2BḫLATIN SMALL LETTER H WITH BREVE BELOW
Hebrew transliteration^[3]
E-cedilla-breve	Ḝ ḝ	U+1E1CḜLATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH CEDILLA AND BREVE U+1E1DḝLATIN SMALL LETTER E WITH CEDILLA AND BREVE

In LaTeX the controls \u{o} and \breve{o} put a breve over the letter o.

Notes

^Бреве кириллическое, "кратка"[Cyrillic breve ( "kratka" )] (in Russian). ParaType.
^For example, that word 한글 han-geul is romanized inMcCune-Reischauerashan'gŭl.The spellinghan-geulis based onSouth Korea'sRevised Romanization of Koreanadopted in 2000 in part for ease in computer use, not onMcCune-Reischauer.It is common, for convenience, to omit writing all diacritical marks in McCune-Reishchauer including breves, in which case the word is spelledhangulnothan'gŭl.North Koreauses a variant of McCune-Reischauer that also utilizes breves for those two vowels.
^^a ^b"Code chart for Latin Extended Additional (U+1E00–U+1EFF)"(PDF).The Unicode Standard.Retrieved2016-11-12.

External links

Diacritics Project — All you need to design a font with correct accents

[1] Бреве кириллическое, "кратка"[Cyrillic breve ( "kratka" )] (in Russian). ParaType.

[2] For example, that word 한글 han-geul is romanized inMcCune-Reischauerashan'gŭl.The spellinghan-geulis based onSouth Korea'sRevised Romanization of Koreanadopted in 2000 in part for ease in computer use, not onMcCune-Reischauer.It is common, for convenience, to omit writing all diacritical marks in McCune-Reishchauer including breves, in which case the word is spelledhangulnothan'gŭl.North Koreauses a variant of McCune-Reischauer that also utilizes breves for those two vowels.

[U1E00-3] "Code chart for Latin Extended Additional (U+1E00–U+1EFF)"(PDF).The Unicode Standard.Retrieved2016-11-12.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Diacritics
In Latin, Cyrillic and Greek	◌́ ◌̋ acute,double acute ◌᷄ apex ◌̆ ◌̑ breve,inverted breve ◌̌ caron, háček ◌̧ cedilla ◌̂ circumflex ◌̈ diaeresis,umlaut,other ◌̇ ◌̣ dot ◌̀ ◌̏ grave,double grave ◌̉ hook above ◌̡ ◌̢ palatal hook,retroflex hook ◌̛ horn ◌ͅ iota subscript ◌̄ macron ◌̨ ogonek,nosinė ◌̊ ◌̥ overring,underring ◌͂ perispomene ◌͗ sicilicus ◌̃ tilde ◌῾ ◌᾿ rough breathing,smooth breathing
InEarly Cyrillic	◌҄ kamora ◌҇ pokrytie ◌҃ titlo
InIndic	ं ং ଂ ം anusvara ऽ ঽ ଽ ఽ ഽ ྅ avagraha ँ ఁ ྃ chandrabindu ़ nuqta ् ് ్ ್ ් ် virama ः ঃ ଃ ஃ visarga
In other scripts	Arabic diacritics Greek diacritics Gurmukhī diacritics Hebrew diacritics diacritics in IPA Japanesekana diacritics ◌゙ ◌゚ dakuten, handakuten Khmer diacritics Syriac diacritics Thai diacritics
Marks used as diacritics	◌’ apostrophe ◌̸ bar ◌: colon ◌, comma ◌. full stop/period ◌˗ hyphen ◌′ prime
Non-diacritic uses	^ caret (computing) ° degree symbol ~ tilde § Mathematics
InUnicode	◌ dotted circle(placeholder glyph character) combining character § Unicode ranges
See also: English terms with diacritical marks Metal umlaut Punctuation marks Category: Diacritics