The circumflex accent (in French: l'accent circonflexe) is the accent shaped like a little roof, that you find for instance in 'forêt'. It often replaces a "s" that has been dropped from the word: forêt was formerly written forest, hôpital was written hospital, and so on.
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In French, a circumflex accent (^) is a diacritic mark used over certain vowels to indicate a historical presence of an "s" that used to follow the vowel. It can sometimes also indicate a change in pronunciation or differentiate between homophones. For example, "pâte" (paste/dough) versus "patte" (paw/leg).
Some French words with an accent circumflex on the letter "i" are hôtel (hotel), île (island), sûr (sure), and fête (party).
The accents in the French word "frère" are the circumflex accent on the first e: ê.
The circumflex accent is used in French to denote historical pronunciation changes or to differentiate between homophones, such as in the words "du" (some) and "dû" (had to).
Examples of French words with accents include "école" (school), "déjà vu" (already seen), "café" (coffee), and "fiancé" (engaged). These accents, such as the acute accent (é), grave accent (à), circumflex accent (â), and cedilla (ç), serve to indicate pronunciation and meaning in French.
A common symbol used to denote a French accent is the "accent aigu," which looks like a slanted line (/) that appears above certain vowels, such as é. This accent changes the pronunciation of the vowel in French.