Macron

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1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Macron offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Macron at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Macron? Wrong! If the Macron is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Macron then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Macron? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Macron and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Macron wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Macron then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Macron site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Macron, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Macron, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

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A macron, from Greek language (makrón) meaning "long", is a diacritic ¯ placed over a vowel which was originally used to mark a Long_syllable#Syllable_weight_in_classical_poetry in Meter_%28poetry%29#Greek_and_Latin, but has now been taken also to indicate that the vowel is long vowel. The opposite is a breve ˘, used to indicate originally a short syllable and now also a short vowel. Distinctions between long and short vowels are usually phoneme. The sign to indicate a long vowel in the International Phonetic Alphabet is a modified triangular Colon_%28punctuation%29.

Syllable weight In Meter_%28poetry%29#Greek_and_Latin, and hence in the description of the metrics of other literatures, the macron was introduced, and is still widely used, to mark a Long_syllable#Syllable_weight_in_classical_poetry. Even the best and relatively recent classical Greek and Latin dictionariesP.G.W. Glare (ed.), Oxford Latin Dictionary (Oxford at the Clarendon Press 1990), p. xxiii: Vowel quantities. Normally only long vowels in a metrically indeterminate position are marked. are still only concerned with indicating the length (i.e. weight) of syllables, and that's why most still don't care to indicate the length of vowels that are in syllables which are otherwise Syllable_length#Syllable_weight_in_classical_poetry.

Vowel Length The following languages or transliteration systems use the macron to mark vowel length:

Transcriptions of Arabic language typically use macrons to indicate long vowels — ا (alif when pronounced as /aː/), و (waw (letter), when pronounced as /uː/), and ي (yodh , when pronounced as /iː/). Thus the Arabic word ثلاثة (three) is transliterated ṯalāṯah.
Some modern dictionaries of ancient Greek and Latin language, where the macron is sometimes used in conjunction with the breve, which marks short vowels. However, many such dictionaries still present ambiguities in their treatment and distinction of long vowels vs heavy syllables.
The Hepburn romanization system of Japanese language. Examples: kōtsū () "traffic" as opposed to kotsu () "bone" or "knack" (fig.) The indigenous Japanese kana transcription of , however, is こうつう, which character for character transliterates as koutsuu. Although not standard, this latter system is arguably the most commonly seen on the Internet, next to not marking vowel length at all.
Latvian language. "Ā", "ē", "ī", "ū" are considered separate letters that sort in alphabetical order immediately after "a", "e", "i", "u" respectively. For instance, baznīca comes before bārda in a Latvian dictionary.
Lithuanian language. "Ū" is considered a separate letter but given the same position in collation as the unaccented "u". It marks a long vowel; other long vowels are indicated with an ogonek (which used to indicate nasalization, but no longer does): "ą", "ę", "į", "ų", "o" being always long in Lithuanian words except for some recent loanwords. For the long counterpart of "i", the letter "y" is used.
Transciptions of Nahuatl language (spoken in Mexico). Since Nahuatl (Nāhuatl) (aztec's language) didn't have a writing system, when Spanish conquistadors arrived, they wrote the language with their own alphabet without distinction on long vowels. Over a century later in 1645, Horacio Carochi defined macrons to mark long vowels ā, ē, ī and ō as well as short vowels with grave (`) accents. This is rare however nowadays since many people write Nahuatl in the modern way without any ortographic sign and the inclussion of letters /k/, /s/ and /w/, not present in the original alphabet. Some projects however have preferred to use the macron-based writing as can be seen on the :nah:Calīxatl.
Modern transcriptions of Old English language.
Latin transliteration of Pali and Sanskrit.
Polynesian languages:

Hawaiian alphabet. The macron is called kahakō, and it indicates vowel length, which changes meaning and the placement of stress (linguistics).
Māori_language. Early writing in Māori did not distinguish vowel length. Some — notably the late Professor Bruce Biggs Yearbook of the Academy Council - 2000, Royal Society of New Zealand — have advocated that double vowels be written to mark long vowel sounds (e.g. Maaori), but even he was more concerned that they be marked at all than with the method. However, the Māori Language Commission (Te Taura Whiri o te Reo Māori) advocate macrons be used to designate long vowels. The use of the macron is now widespread in modern Māori writing, though some people fall back on a diaeresis mark instead (e.g. "Mäori" instead of "Māori") when a macron is not available, and this confuses people who are unfamiliar with either. The Māori language words for macron are pōtae "hat", or tohuto.
Tongan language. Called the toloi, its usage is similar to that in Māori, including its substitution by a diaeresis.

Tone The following languages or alphabets use the macron to mark tone (linguistics):

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, a macron over a vowel indicates a mid-level tone.

In Pinyin, macrons are used over a, e, i, o, u, ü (ā, ē, ī, ō, ū, ǖ) to indicate the first tone (linguistics) of Mandarin (linguistics) Chinese language.

Other uses

In French language comic books which are hand-lettered all in capitals, the macron replaces the circumflex.

In some German language handwriting styles, a macron is used to distinguish u from n.

In older handwriting styles, such as the German Kurrent, the macron over an m or an n meant that the letter was doubled. This continued into print in English in the sixteenth century. Over a u at the end of a word, the macron indicated um as a form of scribal abbreviation.

In Cyrillic alphabet, a lowercase Т looks like a lowercase m, and a macron is often used to distinguish it from Ш, which looks like a lowercase w. Some writers also underline the letter ш, to further reduce ambiguity.

In music, the tenuto marking bears resemblance to the macron

Non-diacritical usage

In medical prescriptions and other handwritten notes, a macron over a c can mean with, as an abbreviation for the Latin language word cum; similarly, a macron over an s can mean without, abbreviating sine, and a macron over a q means every.
In mathematics, and especially statistics the macron is often used to indicate a mean (e.g \bar{x} as the average value of x_i).

Technical notes {| class="infobox bordered" style=""|+Pre-composed characters! colspan=2 | Upper Case! colspan=2 | Lower Case|-! Character! HTML Code! Character! HTML Code|-| Ā| Ā| ā| ā|-| Ē| Ē| ē| ē|-| Ī| Ī| ī| ī|-| Ō| Ō| ō| ō|-| Ū| Ū| ū| ū|-| Ǖ| Ǖ| ǖ| ǖ|-| | Ȳ| | ȳ|}In Unicode, "combining macron" is one of the combining diacritical marks, its code is U+0304 (in HTML, ̄ or ̄). This should be distinguished from the "macron" at U+00AF ¯, from the "modifier letter macron" at U+02C9 ˉ and from the combining overline at U+0305 ̅. There are also several precomposed characters; their HTML/Unicode numbers are as in the table to the right. In LaTeX a macron is created with the command "\=" for example: M\=aori.

If the last two rows of the table do not display properly, the row before the last is the letter Uu with diaeresis (Ü ü) and macron, used in pinyin. The final row is the letter Yy with macron, used sometimes in teaching Latin.

References See also Letters with a macron