The sign or symbol that is used in writing to mark the accentuation of words in the case that they are esdrújulas or acute (that is, they are accented in the first syllable when the word has more than three syllables or that are stressed on the last syllable respectively). Grave words (those that are stressed on the first syllable when it is a word of two or three syllables or intermediate syllable when it has more than three syllables) usually do not carry an accent.
The concept of tilde is somewhat complex if one takes into account that it is often confused with the concept of accent. It is important to note here that all words have an accent. The accent is the intonation or power that is given to a part of the word, more specifically a syllable, when it is spoken. However, the tilde is not exactly the same. The tilde is nothing more than the graphic representation of some of those accents, not all.
The function of the tilde is precisely to mark in writing where the accentuation of the word is in the case of words that have a marked accent and that require greater emphasis in their pronunciation. The tilde is always represented as a line that is placed diagonally over the letter of the stressed syllable.
According to each language, there may be several forms of accent. While, for example, English does not have any type of accent, other languages such as Spanish do. In the case of French, for example, we not only find the same accent of Spanish (also known as an acute accent) but also the grave accent (the same accent but inclined to the other side) and the circumflex accent that is represented as the union of the two accents.
