Acute vowels
Á á É é Í í Ó ó Ú ú Ý ý
Used across Spanish, French, Portuguese, Irish, Icelandic, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and many other languages.
ACCENT MARK / ACUTE
Letters with an acute accent
Copy vowels and consonants with an acute accent. The mark rises to the right, as in á, é, í, ó, ú, ć, ń, and ś.
Click a character, then paste with Ctrl+V or ⌘V.
Characters 24Groups 2Format Unicode text
QUICK REFERENCE
Find the right character
Acute consonants
Ć ć Ń ń Ś ś Ź ź Ŕ ŕ Ĺ ĺ
These are alphabet letters in several Central and Eastern European writing systems.
KEYBOARD METHODS
How to type and insert these characters
Use Alt codes for common vowels
With Num Lock on, hold Alt and enter the listed four-digit code on the numeric keypad. Extended letters such as ć and ś are more reliable through a language layout, Character Map, or Word Unicode conversion.
Press Option + E, then the letter
On the US or ABC layout, press Option + E, release, and type A, E, I, O, U, or Y. Hold Shift with the final letter for uppercase. Character Viewer covers additional consonants.
Hold the base letter
Touch and hold the base letter, slide to the acute form, and release. Add the relevant language keyboard if a consonant such as ś or ć is missing.
Use Ctrl + apostrophe or Alt+X
For common vowels, press Ctrl + apostrophe, release, and type the letter. Any listed character can also be entered from its hexadecimal Unicode value followed by Alt+X.
UNICODE REFERENCE
Character codes
| Character | Name | Group | Unicode | Windows Alt | HTML named | HTML decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Á | Capital A with acute | Vowels | U+00C1 | Alt+0193 | Á | Á |
| á | Lowercase a with acute | Vowels | U+00E1 | Alt+0225 | á | á |
| É | Capital E with acute | Vowels | U+00C9 | Alt+0201 | É | É |
| é | Lowercase e with acute | Vowels | U+00E9 | Alt+0233 | é | é |
| Í | Capital I with acute | Vowels | U+00CD | Alt+0205 | Í | Í |
| í | Lowercase i with acute | Vowels | U+00ED | Alt+0237 | í | í |
| Ó | Capital O with acute | Vowels | U+00D3 | Alt+0211 | Ó | Ó |
| ó | Lowercase o with acute | Vowels | U+00F3 | Alt+0243 | ó | ó |
| Ú | Capital U with acute | Vowels | U+00DA | Alt+0218 | Ú | Ú |
| ú | Lowercase u with acute | Vowels | U+00FA | Alt+0250 | ú | ú |
| Ý | Capital Y with acute | Vowels | U+00DD | Alt+0221 | Ý | Ý |
| ý | Lowercase y with acute | Vowels | U+00FD | Alt+0253 | ý | ý |
| Ć | Capital C with acute | Consonants | U+0106 | Not standard | Ć | Ć |
| ć | Lowercase c with acute | Consonants | U+0107 | Not standard | ć | ć |
| Ń | Capital N with acute | Consonants | U+0143 | Not standard | Ń | Ń |
| ń | Lowercase n with acute | Consonants | U+0144 | Not standard | ń | ń |
| Ś | Capital S with acute | Consonants | U+015A | Not standard | Ś | Ś |
| ś | Lowercase s with acute | Consonants | U+015B | Not standard | ś | ś |
| Ź | Capital Z with acute | Consonants | U+0179 | Not standard | Not listed | Ź |
| ź | Lowercase z with acute | Consonants | U+017A | Not standard | Not listed | ź |
| Ŕ | Capital R with acute | Consonants | U+0154 | Not standard | Not listed | Ŕ |
| ŕ | Lowercase r with acute | Consonants | U+0155 | Not standard | Not listed | ŕ |
| Ĺ | Capital L with acute | Consonants | U+0139 | Not standard | Not listed | Ĺ |
| ĺ | Lowercase l with acute | Consonants | U+013A | Not standard | Not listed | ĺ |
For ordinary writing, copy and paste the character itself. Use an HTML entity only in HTML source. A listed Windows Alt code requires a numeric keypad and may depend on the active character set.
USAGE GUIDE
How the acute accent is used
The acute accent is the short diagonal mark that rises to the right. Its function is language-specific. It can mark word stress, distinguish words, indicate vowel quality or length, represent tone, or form a separate alphabet letter.
Spanish uses acute accents on vowels for written stress and grammatical distinctions. French uses é as a characteristic E form. Polish uses acute-marked consonants including ć, ń, ś, and ź, where the mark is part of the letter rather than a removable stress sign.
The spacing acute symbol ´, the apostrophe ', and the combining acute mark are different characters. For ordinary writing, copy the complete letter shown above rather than substituting punctuation that only resembles the mark.
Acute á rises, while grave à falls
The acute accent slopes upward toward the right: á. The grave accent slopes downward toward the right: à. Font style can change the angle, but the two characters remain distinct.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions about Acute accent
Which direction does an acute accent face?
It rises from lower left to upper right, as in é. The grave accent points in the opposite direction.
What is the acute accent Alt code for é?
On Windows with a numeric keypad, hold Alt and enter 0233 for é or 0201 for É.
Does the acute accent always mark stress?
No. It marks stress in some writing systems, but can indicate tone, vowel quality, length, or a distinct alphabet letter in others.
Is an apostrophe the same as an acute accent?
No. An apostrophe is punctuation. A dead-key shortcut may use the apostrophe key to produce an acute letter, but the resulting accented letter is a different character.
How do I type ś in Word?
Type 015B and press Alt+X for ś. Type 015A and press Alt+X for Ś.
Related character pages
References: Unicode acute accent record, RAE Spanish orthography, Unicode Combining Diacritical Marks, Unicode Latin Extended-A, Unicode Latin Extended Additional, Apple accent entry guidance, Microsoft character code guidance.