Marcato

Marcato is a musical instruction indicating a note, chord, or passage is to be played louder or more forcefully than the surrounding music. The instruction may involve the word marcato itself written above or below the staff or it may take the form of the symbol ∧, an open vertical wedge. The marcato is essentially a louder and often shorter version of the regular accent >.
Like the regular accent, however, the marcato is often interpreted to suggest a sharp attack tapering to the original dynamic, an interpretation which applies only to instruments capable of altering the dynamic level of a single sustained pitch. According to author James Mark Jordan, "the marcato sound is characterized by a rhythmic thrust followed by a decay of the sound."
The instruction marcato or marcatissimo, among various other instructions, symbols, and expression marks may prompt a string player to use martelé bowing, depending on the musical context. An example is the Gavotte from the Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068 by J. S. Bach.