O with macron (Latin)

O with macron (majuscule: Ō, minuscule: ō) is an additional letter of the Latin script, formed from the base letter O with the addition of the macron diacritic mark.

Writing systemLatin script

TypeAlphabetic

Language of originLatin language

InUnicodeU+014C, U+014D

Quick facts Usage, Writing system ...

O with macron
Ō ō

Usage
Writing system	Latin script
Type	Alphabetic
Language of origin	Latin language
In Unicode	`U+014C, U+014D`
Other
Writing direction	Left-to-right

It is used in various Polynesian languages, such as Cook Islands Māori, Dorig, Hawaiian, Hiw, Māori, Marshallese, Marquesan, Mwotlap, Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan, and Vurës, as well as Latgalian, Livonian, Samogitian, and Silesian in Central Europe, Nahuatl in Mexico, Ewondo in Cameroon, and Ogba in Nigeria. The letter is also used in the Hepburn romanization of Japanese, the pinyin romanization system of Standard Chinese, and the ISO 9 standard for romanization of Cyrillic characters.

Usage

Oceanic languages

The letter Ō is present in many Polynesian languages, where it usually represents the long version of the sound represented by the letter O. Most commonly, it represents the long close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o:]). It is the case for, among others, Cook Islands Māori, Hawaiian,^[1] Marquesan, Tahitian, and Tongan.

In Māori it can be pronounced either as a long close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o:]), or a long open-mid back rounded vowel sound ([ɔː]).^[2]

In Vurës, and Hiw, it is pronounced as a close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o]), in Samoan, as open-mid back rounded vowel sound ([ɔː]), in Dorig, and Mwotlap, as a near-close near-back rounded vowel sound ([ʊ]), and in Marshallese, as a close-mid back unrounded vowel sound ([ɤ]).

European languages

The letter Ō used in the Silesian primer alphabet, one of two popular writing systems of Silesian language. Depending on a dialect, it represents the sounds in the range between a close-mid back rounded vowel ([o]) and a close back rounded vowel ([u]). In the Steuer's Silesian alphabet, and the Silesian Phonetic Alphabet, two other writing systems, this function is represented by the letter Ů.^[3]

In Latvia, the letter is present in Latgalian and Livonian, where it represent, respectively, a long open-mid back rounded vowel ([ɔ:]), and a long close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o:]).^[4]^[5] It is also used in Samogitian, spoken in Lithuania, for both of those sounds. ^[6]

African languages

In Ewondo language, Ō is used to represent the mid tone of a close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o]).^[7] The letter is also present in Ogba language, where a macron diacritic mark is used to indicate a tonal downstep.^[8]^[9]

Indigenous languages of the Americas

In Michel Launey's normalized orthography of Nahuatl, Ō is used to represent a long close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o:]).^[10] In traditional orthography, such function is done by either U or V.^[11]

Romanizations

In the Hepburn romanization of Japanese, the letter Ō is used to represent a long close-mid back rounded vowel sound ([o:]).^[12]^[13]

In pinyin romanization system of Standard Chinese, Ō is used to represent a first tone (flat or high-level tone) of a open-mid back rounded vowel sound ([ɔ˥]).^[14]^[15]

In the ISO 9 standard for transliteration into Latin characters of Cyrillic characters, Ō is used to represent the letter O with macron (majuscule: О̄ , minuscule: о̄).^[16]

Computing codes

More information Preview, Ō ...

Character information
Preview	Ō		ō
Unicode name	LATIN CAPITAL LETTER O WITH MACRON		LATIN SMALL LETTER O WITH MACRON
Encodings	decimal	hex	dec	hex
Unicode	332	U+014C	333	U+014D
UTF-8	197 140	C5 8C	197 141	C5 8D
Numeric character reference	Ō	Ō	ō	ō
Named character reference	&Omacr;		&omacr;

References

[1]
Elbert, Samuel H.; Pukui, Mary Kawena (1979). Hawaiian Grammar. Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii. ISBN 0-8248-0494-5.
[2]
Harlow, Ray (2006). Māori, A Linguistic Introduction. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-80861-3.
[3]
Mirosław Syniawa: Ślabikŏrz niy dlŏ bajtli abo lekcyje ślōnskij gŏdki, Chorzów: Pro Loquela Silesiana, 2010, ISBN 978-83-62349-01-2, OCLC 750514461 (in Silesian)
[4]
Posti, Lauri (1973). "Alustava ehdotus liivin yksinkertaistetuksi transkriptioksi". FU-transkription yksinkertaistaminen. Castrenianumin toimitteita. Vol. 7. ISBN 951-45-0282-5.
[5]
Nau, Nicole (2011), A short grammar of Latgalian, Munich: Lincom Europa, pp. 11–13, ISBN 978-3-86288-055-3.
[6]
Juozas Pabrėža. Žemaičių kalba ir rašyba. Šiauliai: Vilnius University Šiauliai Academy, 2017. (in Lithuanian)
[7]
Owona, Antoine (2004). L'orthographe harmonisée de l'ewondo. Université de Yaoundé. (in French)
[8]
Ọgba Language Committee (August 11, 2013). "A DICTIONARY OF ỌGBÀ, AN IGBOID LANGUAGE OF SOUTHERN NIGERIA" (PDF). www.rogerblench.info. Roger Blench, Kay Williamson Educational Foundation, Cambridge, UK. p. 3. Retrieved April 21, 2016.
[9]
"The Ogbah Language". 2008-12-26. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
[10]
Launey, Michel (1992). Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura náhuatl (in Spanish). Mexico City: National Autonomous University of Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, pp. 13–14. ISBN 978-968-36-1944-0. OCLC 29376295.
[11]
Launey, Michel (1992). Introducción a la lengua y a la literatura náhuatl (in Spanish). Mexico City: National Autonomous University of Mexico, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas, pp. 379–382. ISBN 978-968-36-1944-0. OCLC 29376295.
[12]
James Curtis Hepburn (1886). A Japanese-English And English-Japanese Dictionary (Third ed.). Z. P Maruyama & Co. Retrieved April 12, 2011.
[13]
Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (Fourth ed.). Kenkyūsha. 1974.
[14]
Wang, Qiuying; Andrews, Jean F. (2021). "Chinese Pinyin: Overview, History and Use in Language Learning for Young Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in China". American Annals of the Deaf. 166 (4): 446–461. doi:10.1353/aad.2021.0038. ISSN 1543-0375. PMID 35185033. S2CID 247010548.
[15]
Chang, Yufen (2018-10-09). "How pinyin tone formats and character orthography influence Chinese learners' tone acquisition". Chinese as a Second Language Research. 7 (2): 195–219. doi:10.1515/caslar-2018-0008. ISSN 2193-2263. S2CID 57998920.
[16]
"ISO 9:1995: Information and documentation -- Transliteration of Cyrillic characters into Latin characters -- Slavic and non-Slavic languages". International Organization for Standardization. Retrieved 13 Apr 2012.