Accent, AK sehnt, in language, is an emphasis placed on a syllable in a word and is often called stress. Dictionaries usually indicate an accented syllable by a mark placed after the syllable. A secondary accent can be indicated by two marks or by one light accent mark. Accented syllables can also be shown by capital letters or italics. Where pronunciations are given in this encyclopedia, capital letters are used for the syllable with the primary accent and small capital letters for the secondary accent.