Cedilla

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /səˈdɪlə/

Definitions

1. A small hook-shaped mark placed underneath certain letters to change their pronunciation
2. A mark set beneath letters to indicate a modification in sound, often seen in some alphabets
3. A diacritical sign positioned below characters to alter the way they are articulated

Etymology: The little mark under the "c" in "façade" or "garçon" began life as a tiny letter Z. In Spanish, "cedilla" literally means "little zed", and it was the name given to the letter Ç, which had grown out of a Visigothic form of Z called a "Z with copete", the copete being a small flourish or cap. Over centuries, the Z shrank and its upper ornament swelled until it looked like a C, while the Z's remnant sat beneath, eventually reinterpreted as a mark attached to the letter below. English borrowed the term from Spanish around 1600, so the name arrived long before the mark became a familiar feature of French or Portuguese spelling. The word is the same one that describes the hook itself, meaning the mark rather than the letter it sits beneath.