Perispomenon

In Ancient Greek grammar, a perispomenon (/pɛrəˈspɑːməˌnɑːn/ peh-rə-SPAW-mə-NAWN; Ancient Greek: περισπώμενον perispṓmenon) is a word with a high-low pitch contour on the last syllable, indicated in writing by a tilde diacritic (◌̃) or an inverted breve accent mark (◌̑) in native transcriptions with the Greek alphabet, or by a circumflex accent mark (◌̂) in transcriptions with the Latin alphabet. A properispomenon has the same kind of accent, but on the penultimate syllable.^[1]

Examples:

θεοῦ, theoû, "of a god", is a perispomenon
πρᾶξις prâxis "business" is a properispomenon

Etymology

Peri-spṓmenon means "pronounced with a circumflex",^[2] the neuter of the present passive participle of peri-spáō "pronounce with a circumflex" (also "draw off").^[3] Pro-peri-spṓmenon adds the prefix pró "before".^[4] περισπωμένη, perispomeni, is the Greek name for the accent marks (◌̃ or ◌̑) used above Greek letters, also known as ὀξύβαρυς, oxýbarys, "high-low" or "acute-grave", and its original form as a circumflex accent (◌̂) was combining the acute (◌́) and grave (◌̀) pitch accents occurring successively only in bimoraic syllables (with long vowels or diphthongs).