in grammar, an accent, serving to note, or distinguish, a syllable of an intermediate sound between acute and grave; and generally somewhat long.—The Greeks had three accents, the acute, the grave, and the circumflex; formed thus, ' ', '. In Latin, English, French, &c. the circumflex is made thus '.—The acute raises the voice, and the grave falls or lowers it; the circumflex is a kind of undulation, or wavering of the voice, between the two. It is seldom used among the moderns, unless to show the omission of a letter which made the syllable long and open; a thing much more frequent in the French than among us; thus they write pâte for pasté; tête for tête; jumes for jumées, &c. They also use the circumflex in the participles; some of their authors writing connu, peu, others connu, peu, &c. Father Buffier is at a loss for the reason of the circumflex on this occasion.

The form of the Greek circumflex was anciently the same with that of ours, viz. '; being a composition of