Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1500-1600
Language: French
Origin: Latin accentus, from ad- 'to' + cantus 'song'

accent

1 noun
     
ac‧cent1 [countable]
1 the way someone pronounces the words of a language, showing which country or which part of a country they come from [↪ dialect]:
He noticed that I spoke Polish with an accent.
English/American/Indian etc accent
a slight American accent
2

the accent is on something

if the accent is on a particular quality, feeling etc, special importance is given to it:
accommodation with the accent on comfort
3 the part of a word that you should emphasize when you say it [= stress]
accent on
In the word 'dinner' the accent is on the first syllable.
4 a written mark used above or below particular letters in some languages to show how to pronounce that letter
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
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