overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

umlaut.

An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈʊm.laʊt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʌmlaʊt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʊm.laʊt/General-American/ˈumlaʊt/General-American

  1. An assimilatory process whereby a vowel is pronounced more like a following vocoid that is separated by one or more consonants.

  2. 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).

  3. A vowel so assimilated.

  4. The diacritical mark ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel when it indicates a (rounded) front vowel

  5. Synonym of diaeresis.

    informal
    "Naïve" takes an umlaut because it is pronounced as two syllables.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree German um- Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz Proto-West Germanic *hlūd Old High German lūt Middle High German lūt German Laut German Umlautbor. English umlaut Borrowed from German Umlaut in the 19ᵗʰ century, from um- or um (“around, re-, trans-”) + Laut (“sound”), from Old High German hlūt. More at loud.

verb/ˈʊm.laʊt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʌmlaʊt/Received-Pronunciation/ˈʊm.laʊt/General-American/ˈumlaʊt/General-American

  1. To place an umlaut over (a vowel).

    transitive

  2. To modify (a word) so that an umlaut is required in it.

    transitive
    an umlauting vowel
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree German um- Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz Proto-West Germanic *hlūd Old High German lūt Middle High German lūt German Laut German Umlautbor. English umlaut Borrowed from German Umlaut in the 19ᵗʰ century, from um- or um (“around, re-, trans-”) + Laut (“sound”), from Old High German hlūt. More at loud.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

umlaut has 6 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

umlaut studioumlaut workshello, umlaut

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.