cedilla

English

Etymology

From Spanish cedilla (literally “little zed”), c. 1600. In Spanish cedilla referred to the letter ⟨Ç⟩, which had evolved from ⟨Ꝣ⟩, a Visigothic form of the letter Z (called a Z with copete); hence the name. The lower part of ⟨Ç⟩ (which came to be reinterpreted as a diacritical mark under a C) is the remnant of the original Z, after it gradually reduced in size; whereas the upper part was originally just an ornamentation over the Z (which increased in size until it resembled letter C, and finally came to be identified with this letter).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈdɪlə/, enPR: sə-dĭʹlə

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlə

Noun

cedilla (plural cedillas)

¸ Ç ç

1. (orthography) In the spelling of Catalan, French, Portuguese and some other languages, a mark ⟨¸⟩ sometimes placed under the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced /s/ rather than /k/, as in Catalan força, French menaçant, and Portuguese almoço, and also used in various other languages to change the sounds of other letters.

   Synonyms: (dated) cedille, cédille

Usage notes

Sometimes retained in words which have been adopted into English, specifically from French, such as facade/façade.

Translations

mark placed under the letter c

• Arabic: سِدِيلَا f (sidīlā)
• Belarusian: цэды́ллю (cedýllju)
• Catalan: trencat (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 軟音符／软音符 (zh) (ruǎnyīnfú)

• Czech: cedilla f
• Dutch: cedille (nl)
• Esperanto: subhoko, zoeto, cedilo
• Finnish: sedilji (fi)
• French: cédille (fr) f
• German: Cedille (de) f
• Hungarian: cédille (hu), cedilla (hu), (somewhat informal) bal farok, (informal) farkinca (hu), (informal) akasztó (hu)
• Ido: cedilio (io)
• Indonesian: cedilla
• Irish: straithín m
• Italian: cediglia (it) f
• Japanese: セディーユ (sedīyu)
• Korean: 세디유 (sediyu)
• Manx: seddag f, straihleen m
• Occitan: cedilha (oc) f
• Portuguese: cedilha (pt) f
• Romanian: sedilă (ro) f
• Russian: седи́ль (ru) f (sedílʹ)
• Spanish: cedilla (es) f
• Swedish: cedilj (sv) c

See also

• ç
• ogonek

Anagrams

• cleidal

Indonesian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish cedilla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃe.dɪl.la/
• Rhymes: -la
• Hyphenation: ce‧dil‧la

Noun

cedilla (plural cedilla-cedilla, first-person possessive cedillaku, second-person possessive cedillamu, third-person possessive cedillanya)

1. (orthography) cedilla

Further reading

• “cedilla” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish ceda (“letter Z”) +‎ -illa (diminutive suffix); cognate with modern Spanish zeta.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θeˈdiʝa/ [θeˈð̞i.ʝa]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain) /θeˈdiʝa/ [θeˈð̞i.ʝa]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain) /θeˈdiʎa/ [θeˈð̞i.ʎa]

 

• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /seˈdiʝa/ [seˈð̞i.ʝa]

• IPA^(key): (most of Latin America) /seˈdiʝa/ [seˈð̞i.ʝa]
• IPA^(key): (Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines) /seˈdiʎa/ [seˈð̞i.ʎa]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /seˈdiʃa/ [seˈð̞i.ʃa]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /seˈdiʒa/ [seˈð̞i.ʒa]

 

• Rhymes: -iʝa

• Rhymes: -iʝa
• Rhymes: -iʎa
• Rhymes: -iʃa
• Rhymes: -iʒa

• Syllabification: ce‧di‧lla

Noun

cedilla f (plural cedillas)

1. name of the letter ç
2. (orthography) cedilla

Descendants

• → English: cedilla
• → French: cédille
  • → English: cédille
  • → Finnish: sedilji
  • → German: Cedille
• → Italian: cediglia
• → Portuguese: cedilha
• → Romanian: sedilă

Further reading

• “cedilla”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28