Macron (diacritic)

A macron (/ˈmækrɒn, ˈmeɪ-/ MAK-ron, MAY-) is a diacritical mark: it is a straight bar ¯ placed above a letter, usually a vowel. Its name derives from Ancient Greek μακρόν (makrón) 'long' because it was originally used to mark long or heavy syllables in Greco-Roman metrics. It now more often marks a long vowel. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, the macron is used to indicate a mid-tone; the sign for a long vowel is instead a modified triangular colon ⟨ː⟩.

Not to be confused with overline or bar (diacritic).
"O macron", "O-", and "Ū" redirect here. For the Greek letter, see omicron. For the o- prefix in Japanese, see Japanese honorifics. For the Indic vowel, see Ū (Indic).
◌̄
Macron
U+0304 ◌̄ COMBINING MACRON
See also
U+0331 ◌̱ COMBINING MACRON BELOW

The opposite is the breve ⟨˘⟩, which marks a short or light syllable or a short vowel.

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