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acento

ah-SEN-toh/aˈsento/

“acento” means “accent mark” in Spanish. It has 2 different meanings depending on context:

accent mark, stress mark

Also: tilde
NounmA1
A single, large, acute accent mark symbol (a small diagonal line) floating in the center of a simple colorful background.

📝 In Action

Olvidaste poner el acento en la 'e' de 'café'.

A1

You forgot to put the accent mark on the 'e' of 'café'.

La palabra 'árbol' lleva acento en la primera sílaba.

A1

The word 'árbol' carries the stress mark on the first syllable.

¿Este 'si' lleva acento o no?

A2

Does this 'si' (if/yes) have an accent mark or not?

Word Connections

Common Collocations

  • poner un acento – to place an accent mark
  • llevar acento – to have an accent mark

accent

Also: tone, stress
NounmA2
General
A colorful illustration showing two cartoon characters, one from a tropical region and one from a snowy region, speaking to each other. Their speech is depicted with distinct, colorful sound waves to symbolize different accents.

📝 In Action

Ella tiene un acento muy fuerte de Andalucía.

A2

She has a very strong accent from Andalusia.

Al principio no entendía su acento, pero ya me acostumbré.

B1

At first I didn't understand his accent, but I've gotten used to it now.

El presentador habla con un acento neutro.

B2

The presenter speaks with a neutral accent.

Word Connections

Synonyms

  • entonación (intonation)
  • dejo (regional manner of speaking)

Common Collocations

  • acento extranjero – foreign accent
  • acento marcado – strong accent

Translate to Spanish

Words that translate to "acento" in Spanish:

accent mark→stress→stress mark→tilde→tone→

✏️ Quick Practice

Quick Quiz: acento

Question 1 of 2

Which sentence uses 'acento' to describe the way someone speaks?

📚 More Resources

👥 Word Family▼
acentuar(to stress/to accent) — Verb
acentuación(accentuation/stressing (noun)) — Noun
🎵 Rhymes▼
📚 Etymology▼

Comes from the Latin word *accentus*, which meant 'tone' or 'stress.' This word was formed by combining *ad-* ('to') and *cantus* ('song' or 'singing'). So, the word literally relates to adding a musical tone or emphasis to speech.

First recorded: Around the 13th century in Spanish.

Cognates (Related words)

English: accentFrench: accentItalian: accento

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Frequently Asked Questions

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre 'acento' y 'tilde'?

Historically and technically, 'acento' is the general term for the stress (spoken or written), and 'tilde' (~) is only the little squiggle over the letter 'ñ'. However, in everyday Spanish, many people use 'tilde' and 'acento' interchangeably to mean the accent mark (´).

Does having an accent mark (acento) mean a word is always pronounced differently?

Yes. If a word has a written accent mark, it means that syllable receives the strong emphasis, which is different from where the stress would fall if the mark wasn't there.