Circumflex

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a little hat symbol ^ ? That's called a circumflex. It's used to change the sound of some words in languages like French and Portuguese.

In French, the circumflex can be found on top of certain vowels, like â, ê, î, ô, and û. When these vowels have a circumflex, it usually means they're pronounced differently than the same vowels without a circumflex. For example, the word "hôtel" (with a circumflex over the o) is pronounced differently than the word "hotel" (without the circumflex).

In Portuguese, the circumflex is also used to indicate a different pronunciation. It's often found on the letter â or ê, and can change the sound of the word. For example, the word "pêssego" (with a circumflex over the e) means "peach" in Portuguese, while "pesego" (without the circumflex) is not a word.

So, the circumflex is like a little hat that helps us know when to say certain words differently in French and Portuguese!