Circumflex facts for kids

Bilingual sign showing the use of the circumflex in Welsh as an indicator of length and stress: parêd [paˈreːd] "parade", as opposed to pared [ˈparɛd] "partition wall".

The circumflex is a diacritic (accent) used in French and a few other languages. It is like a little hat on top of a vowel. Originally, it was an acute accent and a grave accent put together.

In French, the circumflex usually shows the loss of letter, usually the loss of the letter s. Example: maistre (Middle French) > maître (modern French). Here its function is historical.

Also, less often, the circumflex is used to distinguish between homophones. These are words spelt the same, but with different meanings. Example: sur = on, but sûr = safe or certain. In those cases the pronunciation of the two words may be different.