oxia

• oxeia

From the Ancient Greek ὀξεῖᾰ (oxeîa), an elliptical use for ἡ ὀξεῖᾰ προσῳδῐ́ᾱ (hē oxeîa prosōidíā, “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”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒksɪə/, /ɒkˈsiːə/
• Homophone: oxea

oxia (plural oxiae)

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

• In a diphthong, the oxia is written atop the second of the two vowels.
• The oxia is virtually identical in form to the Latin-script acute accent: ⟨ ´ ⟩.
• The Modern Greek stress-marking diacritic, the tonos: ⟨ ΄ ⟩, was originally designed as a vertical line, thereby constituting a compromise of forms between the Ancient Greek oxia and baria; nevertheless, the oxia and tonos have identical appearance in all but the most scrupulous typesetting.

Other Ancient Greek diacritics

• Xiao, xiao