accent [OE] English distinguishes the different parts or syllables of a word by stressing one of them, but the ancient Greeks pronounced them with a distinct difference in musical pitch. Syllables marked with a grave accent [LME] (for example à), from Latin gravis ‘heavy, serious’ were spoken at a comparatively low pitch, those with an acute [M17th] (such as á), from Latin acutus ‘sharp, high’ at a higher pitch, and those with a circumflex [M16th] (such as â), from Latin circumflexus, ‘bent around’, began at the higher pitch and descended during the pronunciation of the syllable. This gives some explanation of why the root of accent is Latin cantus ‘song’, which was a direct translation of the Greek word prosōidia (source of prosody [LME] ‘versification’). Quite a few languages (technically known as ‘tonal’ languages) still have this musical way of speaking, among them Chinese and Swedish.