Tilde vs. accent marks

Question

I keep seeing you using the word "tilde" in place of "accent marks" in the articles on this website. A tilde is this: ~, as used in this letter: ñ, while an accent mark is like one of these: á, é, í, ó, ú. As a native English speaker it makes no sense to me to see the word tilde used in place of an accent mark. Is the word used differently in the Spanish language that I am not accustomed to seeing?

Welcome to the forum , we want to help you so fill out your profile If you have a problem PM a mod Bienvenido al foro. Queremos ayudarle, entonces hay que llenar su perfil. Si hay un problema, envíe un mensaje personal (PM) - ray76, Apr 30, 2016

Thank you for filling out your profile , that is worth a vote from me, if you read the link I left for you it will greatly help you. Buena suerte chica. - ray76, Apr 30, 2016

Welcome to SD - have a vote from me too. :) - ian-hill, Apr 30, 2016

Answer 1

Hi, and welcome.

Disclaimer: I am totally not an expert.

I suspect that most English speakers and dictionaries agree with you.

However, Spanish (the source of our English word tilde) is different, and I think that in contexts where English and Spanish are both used, the Spanish use bleeds over. Tilde (from the verb tildar, "to put an accent on") means acento according to the RAE.

Basically, when I read tilde, I now assume that it refers to any diacritic.

Edit: In hindsight, I wonder whether tilde is from tildar or the other way around.

Thanks. I suspected that the Spanish usage was somehow bleeding over, but wasn't sure how. Such is the value of learning a foreign language! - kewlgeek, Apr 29, 2016

I agree, tilde is used for both in Spanish, but only for the mark over the n in English- I have been called out for using tilde for accent in English myself, and try to be more careful now when using English, but not everyone does. - bosquederoble, Apr 29, 2016

Answer 2

Please read this