Today I learned that the French circumflex accent denotes an “s” that became silent and then invisible.
ancêtre "ancestor"
hôpital "hospital"
hôtel "hostel"
forêt "forest"
rôtir "to roast"
côte "coast"
pâté "paste"
août "August"
Thanks @lingthusiasm podcât!
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Example from above link: "In words derived from Ancient Greek, the circumflex over o often indicates the presence of the Greek letter omega (ω) when the word is pronounced with the sound /o/: diplôme (δίπλωμα), cône (κῶνος)."
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Also... Hilarious: "Some circumflexes appear for no known reason. It is thought to give words an air of prestige, like a crown (thus trône, prône, suprême and voûte)."
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Thanks Olivia, it’s always nice to see languages other than English being capricious and tacky
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Greek has/had the iota subscript, which is *ehem* quite a bit amusing on a certain letter! ῳ

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