◌̄

See also: ˉ [U+02C9 MODIFIER LETTER MACRON], ◌̅ [U+0305 COMBINING OVERLINE], and ◌͞◌

◌̄ U+0304, ̄ COMBINING MACRON ← ◌̃ [U+0303] Combining Diacritical Marks ◌̅ → [U+0305]

Translingual

Alternative forms

• (X-bar): ′ (prime), ' (plain apostrophe)

Description

A horizontal line, called a macron, to be placed above other characters.

Pronunciation

• (X-bar):
  • (English) as bar:
    • N̄ /ˈɛn.bɑɹ/

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. (IPA) A mid tone.
2. (IPA, obsolete) A level tone – or, in contrast to low ⟨◌̱⟩, a high level tone.
3. (UPA) Long vowel (e.g. ā) or consonant (e.g. t̄ ); cf. ⟨◌̂⟩.

   Synonym: ◌᷾

4. (Chomskyan grammar) Used to denote an X-bar.
5. (romanization) used to create the letter ⟨ḡ⟩ (also ⟨ġ⟩), which transliterates i.a. Arabic غ (ḡ), as well as long vowels such as ⟨ā⟩ for ى, ⟨ī⟩ and ⟨ū⟩.

Usage notes

The IPA diacritic for retraction, ⟨◌̠⟩, may appear above a letter that has a descender. As of 2024, the macron is the closest Unicode equivalent, but a proper minus sign diacritic is pending.

Synonyms

[1]: ː

[2]: ˧

See also

• ⟨◌̅⟩: a line above (overline, overbar, overscore), used to mark the repetend of a repeating decimal: a type of vinculum

English

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. (lexicography) Used to mark a vowel letter as having its 'long' sound: ⟨ā⟩ /eɪ/, ⟨ē⟩ /iː/, ⟨ī⟩ /aɪ/, ⟨ō⟩ /oʊ/, ⟨ū⟩ /juː/.
2. (poetry) Placed over a vowel letter to indicate that the syllable is long. Also used alone to mark stress in a metrical foot or verse: see ⟨ˉ⟩.

Usage notes

• (lexicography): ⟨◌͞◌⟩ is used for the digraph oo.
• (poetry): ⟨◌̆⟩ is used for a short vowel/syllable.

Coptic

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. The supralinear stroke, placed over a syllabic consonant.

Japanese

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. (romanization) A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called マクロン (“macron”) in Japanese, and found on Ā/ā, Ē/ē, Ī/ī, Ō/ō and Ū/ū.

Usage notes

In a number of romanization systems of Japanese, particularly Hepburn, the macron indicates that a vowel is a long vowel.

Other romanization systems, particularly Kunrei-shiki, use the circumflex (^) for that purpose.

Latin

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called signum productionis (“macron”) in Latin, and found on Ā/ā, Ē/ē, Ī/ī, Ō/ō and Ū/ū. (used in grammars and dictionaries)

Synonyms

• ◌́

See also

• ◌̆ (signum correptionis)

Latvian

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called garumzīme (“macron”) in Latvian, and found on Ā/ā, Ē/ē, Ī/ī and Ū/ū.

Usage notes

• Used to mark long vowels: ā = [aː], ē = [ɛː] or [æː], ī = [iː], ū = [uː].
• For a short while (1908–1919), it was also used with the letter o (ō) to mark long [oː] in words of foreign origin, but this usage has since then been abandoned.
• Letters with macrons are considered as separate letters with different names, and listed in the alphabet after the same letters without macron (i.e., ā after a, ē after e, ī after i, and ū after u). In actual practice, however, letters with and without macrons are treated as the same letter in alphabetized lists (e.g., in dictionaries), unlike letters with cedillas (ģ, ķ, ļ, ņ) or háčeks (č, š, ž), which are kept separate in alphabetized lists.

Mandarin

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called 長音符ちょうおんぷ號ごう／长音符号ふごう (“{{{trans}}}”) in Mandarin, and found on Ā/ā, Ē/ē, Ī/ī, Ō/ō, Ū/ū and Ǖ/ǖ. Indicates the high level first tone.

Old English

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. Written on a letter, usually a vowel, in place of an omitted n or m.
   • c. 975–1025, Beowulf (Cotton MS Vitellius A XV)‎^[2], published 4th quarter 10th century–2nd half 16th century, page 132r, lines 4–6:

     (please add the primary text of this quotation)

     oft scyld scefing sceaþen[a] þreatum monegū mægþum meodo setla of teah egsode eorl syððan ærest wearð fea sceaft funden

     (translation from “A Translation of the Anglo-Saxon Poem of Beowulf With a Copious Glossary Preface and Philological Notes” by John M. Kemble, 1837, London: William Pickering, “Beowulf.”, page 1)

Descendants

• Middle English: ~

Yoruba

Diacritical mark

◌̄

1. A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called àmì ohùn àárín (“middle-tone mark”) in Yoruba, and found on Ā/ā, Ē/ē, Ẹ̄/ẹ̄, Ī/ī, Ō/ō, Ọ̄/ọ̄, Ū/ū, N̄/n̄ and M̄/m̄. Used to indicate middle-tone, omitted on vowels but marked on syllabic nasals to avoid conflation with nasal vowels

See also

• re (“syllable used to represent the middle tone”)
• ìró ohùn àárín (“middle tone”)

tone marks

• ◌̀
• ◌́
• ◌̂ (obsolete)
• ◌̌ (obsolete)