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til·de

(tĭldə)

The diacritical mark ( ~ ), used for example over the letter n in Spanish to indicate the palatal nasal sound (ny), as in cañón, "canyon," and over the vowels a and o in Portuguese to indicate nasalization, as in pão, "bread."

[Spanish, alteration of obsolete Catalan title, from Latin titulus, superscription.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices