A wavy symbol (~) placed above letters in some languages like Spanish and Portuguese to change their pronunciation, or a proper name for a girl.
From Spanish and Portuguese 'tilde,' borrowed from Latin 'titulus' meaning 'inscription' or 'label.' The symbol originally marked abbreviated letters in medieval manuscripts and evolved to indicate pronunciation changes.
The tilde over the Spanish 'ñ' fundamentally changed how Spanish sounds—without it, 'niño' (boy) would be 'nino' (nine). A tiny mark created an entirely new consonant sound!
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