umlaut

IPA: ˈʌmɫˈɔt

(linguistics) An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants.
(linguistics) The umlaut process (as above) that occurred historically in Germanic languages whereby back vowels became front vowels when followed by syllable containing a front vocoid (e.g. Germanic lūsiz > Old English lȳs(i) > Modern English lice).
(linguistics) A vowel so assimilated.
(orthography) The diacritical mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel when it indicates a (rounded) front vowel
(informal, orthography) A diaeresis.

(transitive) To place an umlaut over (a vowel).
(linguistics, transitive) To modify (a word) so that an umlaut is required in it.

Examples of "umlaut" in Sentences

Zoophilia does not require an umlaut.
An umlaut is incorrect, that's the point.
Germanic umlaut and Germanic strong verb.
That article makes no reference to umlaut.
That Umlaut is a common source of confusion.
An example of this is the heavy metal umlaut.
In German there is no umlaut on the a of Handel.
For regressive harmony, the term umlaut is used.
Now an umlaut is masculine, but an accent mark ...?
In Germanistic philology, 'Umlaut' is the the scholarly word.
By the way, the umlaut glitches returned by the mere act of saving.
Okay, so they're spelling it differently (the umlaut is a nice touch, I must admit) ... but still!
The preposition um means around or surrounding, but as a prefix the word has the idea of changing or modifying; laut means sound, so an umlaut is a modified sound.
What happens in umlaut is that a back vowel is modified so as to have the form of the corresponding front vowel when there is a front vowel in the following syllable; this typically happens in plural forms of nouns, comparative forms of adjectives, and other words that have suffixes, so Mann (man) becomes Männer (men), lang (long) becomes länger (longer), and Tod (death) becomes tödlich (deathly, lethal).