Talk:coup d'œil

Microsoft Encarta Dictionary uses a spelling of this word with a trema over the o instead of the oe ligature. I don't have a French dictionary handy so can't verify if we're wrong or they're wrong or both are possible. Clarifications gratefully accepted. — Hippietrail 03:22, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure you found an error in Encarta there. French uses tremas, but only when a syllable split occurs between two vowels and thus the two vowels need to be pronounced separately. (This is more or less like in Dutch too, although in Dutch it is common. In French it is more rare Zoë, zoölogie, Beëlzebub, haïr). œil is only correctly written with the ligature. oeil was accepted for a while, since it was impossible to write it correctly with the first set of computers that only used ASCII or EBCDIC. I guess it was impossible to write it correctly as well with non-French typewriters. Polyglot 08:55, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Why is this in the category of English words spelled with ligatures when it isn't in any of the other english word categories?? That's saying it's not an english word but still an english word with a ligature, completely contradictory.

It's just that nobody has yet added an English entry even though somebody else has added the categories. This is not unusual on Wiktionary where contributors often have differing skills, knowledge, and expertise. There is a Wikipedia article on this as an English term: w:Coup d'œil — hippietrail 13:48, 23 October 2008 (UTC)