o·gon·ek (?-gôn??k, -g?n?-)n. A mark resembling a hook (?) placed beneath a letter, usually to indicate nasalization, as in Polish, or sometimes vowel length, as in Lithuanian.[Polish, from diminutive of ogon, tail, from Proto-Slavic *ogon? (probably originally “that which drives away (flies and the like)”) : *o-, ob-, around, on + *goniti, to push, chase, drive.]American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.