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Accent Reference Guide
Learn about different accent types and their usage across languages. Click any character chip to copy it.
What Are Accented Letters? The Comprehensive Guide to Diacritics & Latin Alphabet Extensions
Understand how diacritical marks transform standard Latin letters to convey phonetic pronunciation, tonal inflection, syllable stress, and semantic distinction across over 100 world languages.
An accented letter is a character modified by an attached typographic glyph known as a diacritic (from the Ancient Greek diakritikós, meaning "distinguishing"). Diacritics are placed above, below, or through a base Latin letter (such as é, ñ, ü, ç, ř, or ø) to indicate essential phonological properties: vowel quality, nasalization, pitch tone, grammatical tense, or consonant softening (palatalization).
While standard physical keyboards (such as the standard US QWERTY 104-key layout) lack dedicated keys for most international characters, modern Unicode standards assign unique hexadecimal code points to every precomposed and combined accented letter. Using the WayToType Accent Keyboard & Symbol Builder, writers, educators, linguists, and developers can construct, customize, and copy any diacritical letter with a single click.
The 14 Major Types of Diacritics & Their Functions
A comprehensive technical overview of accent marks, their visual characteristics, phonetic roles, and principal language families.
| Diacritic Mark | Symbol | Examples | Primary Linguistic Function | Major Languages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acute Accent | ´ | Á, á, É, é, Í, í, Ó, ó, Ú, ú, Ý, ý, Ź, ź |
Indicates primary syllable stress, vowel height, or consonant palatalization. | Spanish, French, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian |
| Grave Accent | ` | À, à, È, è, Ì, ì, Ò, ò, Ù, ù, Ỳ, ỳ |
Marks open vowel sounds or distinguishes homophones (e.g. French ou vs où). | French, Italian, Portuguese, Scottish Gaelic, Vietnamese |
| Circumflex | ^ | Â, â, Ê, ê, Î, î, Ô, ô, Û, û, Ŷ, ŷ, Ĉ, ĉ |
Historical vowel lengthening or specific vowel timbre; Esperanto affricate indicator. | French, Portuguese, Romanian, Welsh, Esperanto |
| Tilde | ~ | Ã, ã, Ñ, ñ, Õ, õ, Ỹ, ỹ, Ṽ, ṽ |
Marks nasalized vowels or palatal nasal consonant [ɲ] ("ny" sound in Señor). | Spanish, Portuguese, Basque, Vietnamese, Guarani |
| Umlaut / Diaeresis | ¨ | Ä, ä, Ë, ë, Ï, ï, Ö, ö, Ü, ü, Ÿ, ÿ, Ẅ, ẅ |
Germanic front vowel shift (umlaut) or vocalic separation into distinct syllables (diaeresis). | German, Swedish, Finnish, French, Spanish, Dutch |
| Cedilla & Comma Below | ¸ / ̦ | Ç, ç, Ş, ş, Ţ, ţ, Ș, ș, Ț, ț |
Softens 'C' to an [s] sound before A/O/U; indicates postalveolar sibilants [ʃ] ("sh"). | French, Portuguese, Turkish, Romanian, Catalan, Albanian |
| Ring Above | ° | Å, å, Ů, ů, Ḁ, ḁ |
Represents an [oː] vowel sound in Scandinavian; marks historical long u in Czech. | Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Walloon |
| Caron / Háček | ˇ | Č, č, Ď, ď, Ě, ě, Ň, ň, Ř, ř, Š, š, Ť, ť, Ž, ž |
Indicates consonant palatalization or postalveolar sounds (ch, sh, zh). | Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian, Lithuanian, Latvian |
| Macron | ¯ | Ā, ā, Ē, ē, Ī, ī, Ō,ō, Ū, ū, Ȳ, ȳ |
Designates phonemically long vowel duration in classical and indigenous tongues. | Latin, Māori, Hawaiian, Latvian, Japanese (Romaji) |
| Ogonek | ˛ | Ą, ą, Ę, ę, Į, į, Ų, ų |
"Little tail" indicating nasalized vowel articulation without nasal consonants. | Polish, Lithuanian, Navajo, Western Apache |
| Stroke / Bar | / | Ø, ø, Ł, ł, Đ, đ, Ħ, ħ, Ƀ, ƀ, Ɏ, ɏ |
Distinguishes unique phonemes: close-mid front rounded vowel [ø] or dark [w] sound. | Danish, Norwegian, Polish, Vietnamese, Maltese, Sami |
| Breve | ˘ | Ă, ă, Ĕ, ĕ, Ğ, ğ, Ĭ, ĭ, Ŏ, ŏ, Ŭ, ŭ |
Marks short vowel duration in Romanian; silences or softens 'G' in Turkish. | Romanian, Turkish, Esperanto, Vietnamese, Latin |
| Horn | ̛ | Ơ, ơ, Ư, ư |
Denotes unrounded back vowel sounds [ɤ] and [ɯ] in Vietnamese orthography. | Vietnamese |
| Hook Above / Hoi | ̉ | Ả, ả, Ẻ, ẻ, Ỉ, ỉ, Ỏ, ỏ, Ủ, ủ, Ỷ, ỷ |
Represents the dipping-rising tone (hỏi) in Vietnamese tonal phonology. | Vietnamese |
How to Type Accented Letters on Windows, Mac, Word & Mobile
Step-by-step instructions for typing international accented characters using dead keys, Alt codes, Option combos, and mobile gestures.
Windows US-International Layout
- 1. Acute (´): Press ' (apostrophe) then letter → '+e = é.
- 2. Grave (`): Press ` (tilde key) then letter → `+a = à.
- 3. Circumflex (^): Press Shift+6 then letter → ^+o = ô.
- 4. Umlaut (¨): Press Shift+' then letter → "+u = ü.
- 5. Tilde (~): Press Shift+` then letter → ~+n = ñ.
Apple macOS Option Combos
- 1. Long-Press: Hold down any vowel key for 1 second to reveal the interactive accent menu.
- 2. Acute: Press Option+e, then type the vowel (é, á, í, ó, ú).
- 3. Umlaut: Press Option+u, then type the vowel (ä, ë, ï, ö, ü).
- 4. Grave: Press Option+`, then type the vowel (à, è, ù).
- 5. Cedilla: Press Option+c → ç.
Windows Numeric Alt Codes
- 1. Hold down the Alt key on your keyboard.
- 2. Type 0233 for é (Alt+0201 for uppercase É).
- 3. Type 0241 for ñ (Alt+0209 for uppercase Ñ).
- 4. Type 0252 for ü (Alt+0220 for uppercase Ü).
- 5. Type 0231 for ç (Alt+0199 for uppercase Ç).
Mobile Devices (iOS & Android)
- 1. On iPhone/iPad (iOS) or Android (Gboard/Samsung), long-press any letter key.
- 2. Slide your finger across the pop-up ribbon to highlight your desired accented letter.
- 3. Release your finger to type the character.
- 4. Tap the Shift key before long-pressing for uppercase variants.
- 5. Works universally across WhatsApp, Messages, Safari, and Instagram.
HTML Character Entities & Unicode Code Points for Accents
Essential web development and copywriter reference for rendering accented letters reliably in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and database systems.
| Character | Letter Description | HTML Named Entity | HTML Decimal Entity | HTML Hex Entity | Unicode Code Point | Windows Alt Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| é / É | E with acute | é / É |
é / É |
é / É |
U+00E9 / U+00C9 |
Alt + 0233 / Alt + 0201 |
| è / È | E with grave | è / È |
è / È |
è / È |
U+00E8 / U+00C8 |
Alt + 0232 / Alt + 0200 |
| ñ / Ñ | N with tilde (Enye) | ñ / Ñ |
ñ / Ñ |
ñ / Ñ |
U+00F1 / U+00D1 |
Alt + 0241 / Alt + 0209 |
| ü / Ü | U with diaeresis (Umlaut) | ü / Ü |
ü / Ü |
ü / Ü |
U+00FC / U+00DC |
Alt + 0252 / Alt + 0220 |
| ç / Ç | C with cedilla | ç / Ç |
ç / Ç |
ç / Ç |
U+00E7 / U+00C7 |
Alt + 0231 / Alt + 0199 |
| ß / ẞ | Sharp S (Eszett) | ß / ẞ |
ß / ẞ |
ß / ẞ |
U+00DF / U+1E9E |
Alt + 0223 |
| å / Å | A with ring above | å / Å |
å / Å |
å / Å |
U+00E5 / U+00C5 |
Alt + 0229 / Alt + 0197 |
| ø / Ø | O with stroke | ø / Ø |
ø / Ø |
ø / Ø |
U+00F8 / U+00D8 |
Alt + 0248 / Alt + 0216 |
Accented Alphabet Quick Reference by Language
Curated lists of essential letters and accents required for accurate spelling in major world languages.
French utilizes 5 distinct diacritical marks to govern vowel open/closed pronunciation, verb tenses, and homophone differentiation.
Spanish uses the acute accent (acento agudo) exclusively to designate irregular vocalic stress, along with the enye (ñ) and umlaut in gü.
German incorporates three fronted vowel umlauts (Umlaute) and the ligature sharp S (Eszett) representing an unvoiced sibilant.
Portuguese features both oral stress accents (acute, grave, circumflex) and distinctive nasal diphthongs marked with a tilde.
Polish orthography uses acute accents, ogoneks (nasal hooks), overdots, and crossed strokes to represent 9 unique consonants and vowels.
Slavic Latin scripts rely on carons (háček) for soft consonants and acute marks (čárka) or rings (kroužek) for long vowels.
Frequently Asked Questions About Accented Letters & Diacritics
Clear answers regarding character encoding, language rules, typing methods, and SEO best practices.
A diacritic (from Ancient Greek diakritikós, meaning "distinguishing") is a typographic glyph added to a letter to indicate a change in pronunciation, stress, or meaning. Common examples include the Spanish acute (á), French cedilla (ç), German umlaut (ü), and Scandinavian ring (å).
The Symbol Builder is an interactive web tool that lets you select any base letter from A to Z and combine it with 35 distinct accent marks (Acute, Grave, Circumflex, Tilde, Umlaut, Caron, Ring, Ogonek, Horn, etc.). It instantly resolves the exact Unicode precomposed or combining character in both uppercase and lowercase, ready to copy with 1 click.
Visually they are identical (two horizontal dots above a vowel like ä, ë, ö, ü). Phonologically, a diaeresis indicates that two adjacent vowels must be pronounced as separate syllables (e.g. Naïve or Brontë), while an umlaut indicates a vowel shift or sound mutation in Germanic languages (e.g. Schön or München).
Yes! Every character generated on WayToType uses standardized UTF-8 Unicode encoding. They paste cleanly into Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Notion, Slack, Excel, email clients, social media apps (Instagram, TikTok, Twitter/X), and web forms without rendering as question marks or boxes.
Google's search algorithm is accent-folding aware, meaning searches for "resume" and "résumé" or "café" and "cafe" often return closely aligned results. However, using correct orthographic diacritics in titles, headings, and meta descriptions provides superior local relevancy, professional trust, and better ranking for language-specific search queries in international markets.
A dead key is a modifier key on international keyboard layouts (like US-International) that produces no immediate character on screen when pressed. Instead, it alters the keystroke that follows. For example, pressing ' (dead key) followed by e produces é.
On Mac, hold down Shift while long-pressing the letter key, or use Option+e then Shift+E. On Windows US-International, press ' then Shift+E. Alternatively, use the WayToType Symbol Builder and click Copy Uppercase for instant access.
While native English words do not contain diacritics, English frequently retains accents in borrowed loanwords from French, Spanish, and German to preserve correct pronunciation and spelling. Examples include café, résumé, façade, cliché, déjà vu, naïve, doppelgänger, and piñata.