# oxia

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈɒksɪə/

## Definitions
1. An Ancient Greek pitch-marking diacritic: ⟨ ´ ⟩; written atop vowels, it denotes high pitch on short vowels, and rising pitch on long vowels and diphthongs.

## Etymology
From the Ancient Greek ὀξεῖᾰ (oxeîă), an elliptical use for ἡ ὀξεῖᾰ προσῳδῐ́ᾱ (hē oxeîă prosōidĭ́ā, “the acute accent”) — ἡ (hē, the nominative feminine singular form of ὁ, ho, “the”, the definite article) + ὀξεῖᾰ (okseia, the nominative feminine singular form of ὀξῠ́ς, oksus, “sharp”, of sound “shrill”, of tones “high-pitched”) + προσῳδῐ́ᾱ (prosōdiā, “variation in pitch of the speaking voice”, “pronunciation of a syllable on a certain pitch”, “a mark [i.e., a diacritic] indicating normally unwritten differences of pronunciation, viz. vowel quantity, breathing, and pitch”).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/oxia