[ dʌɪ'ɪərɪsɪs , -'ɛr- ]
( US dieresis )
■ noun ( plural diaereses -si:z )
1》 a mark (¨) placed over a vowel to indicate that it is sounded separately, as in naïve , Brontë .
↘the division of a sound into two syllables, especially by sounding a diphthong as two vowels.
2》 Prosody a natural rhythmic break in a line of verse where the end of a metrical foot coincides with the end of a phrase.
Origin
C16: via L. from Gk diairesis 'separation', from diairein 'take apart'.