Caron

Common card · No. 200188

A caron ( KARR-ən) or háček ( HAH-chek, HATCH-ek, HAY-chek, plural háčeks or háčky), is a diacritic mark (◌̌) placed over certain letters in the orthography of some languages, to indicate a change of the related letter's pronunciation. Typographers tend to use the term caron, while linguists prefer the Czech word háček. The symbol is common in the Baltic, Slavic, Finnic, Samic and Berber language families. Its use differs according to the orthographic rules of a language. In most Slavic and other European languages it indicates present or historical palatalization (e → ě; [e] → [ʲe]), iotation, or postalveolar articulation (c → č; [ts] → [tʃ]). In Salishan languages, it often represents a uvular consonant (x → x̌; [x] → [χ]). When placed over vowel symbols, the caron can indicate a contour tone, for instance the falling and then rising tone in the Pinyin romanization of Mandarin Chinese. It is also used to decorate symbols in mathematics, where it is often pronounced ("check"). The caron...

Read on Wikipedia