Common grave vowels
À à È è Ì ì Ò ò Ù ù
These forms occur in languages including French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, and Welsh.
ACCENT MARK / GRAVE
Letters with a grave accent
Copy letters with a grave accent, including à, è, ì, ò, ù, ǹ, ẁ, and ỳ. Uppercase forms are included.
Click a character, then paste with Ctrl+V or ⌘V.
Characters 16Groups 2Format Unicode text
QUICK REFERENCE
Find the right character
Extended grave letters
Ǹ ǹ Ẁ ẁ Ỳ ỳ
N, W, and Y with grave appear in particular orthographies, tone notation, and language-specific words.
KEYBOARD METHODS
How to type and insert these characters
Use the common vowel Alt codes
Hold Alt and type the four-digit code on the numeric keypad for à, è, ì, ò, or ù. Use Character Map or Word Unicode conversion for ǹ, ẁ, and ỳ.
Press Option + grave, then the letter
On the US or ABC layout, press Option with the grave key, release, and type the vowel. Use Shift with the final letter for uppercase.
Hold the base letter
Touch and hold A, E, I, O, U, N, W, or Y and select the grave form when available. Language keyboards determine which choices appear.
Use Ctrl + grave or Alt+X
Press Ctrl + grave, release, and type a common vowel. For any character in the table, type its hexadecimal Unicode value and press Alt+X.
UNICODE REFERENCE
Character codes
| Character | Name | Group | Unicode | Windows Alt | HTML named | HTML decimal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| À | Capital A with grave | Common vowels | U+00C0 | Alt+0192 | À | À |
| à | Lowercase a with grave | Common vowels | U+00E0 | Alt+0224 | à | à |
| È | Capital E with grave | Common vowels | U+00C8 | Alt+0200 | È | È |
| è | Lowercase e with grave | Common vowels | U+00E8 | Alt+0232 | è | è |
| Ì | Capital I with grave | Common vowels | U+00CC | Alt+0204 | Ì | Ì |
| ì | Lowercase i with grave | Common vowels | U+00EC | Alt+0236 | ì | ì |
| Ò | Capital O with grave | Common vowels | U+00D2 | Alt+0210 | Ò | Ò |
| ò | Lowercase o with grave | Common vowels | U+00F2 | Alt+0242 | ò | ò |
| Ù | Capital U with grave | Common vowels | U+00D9 | Alt+0217 | Ù | Ù |
| ù | Lowercase u with grave | Common vowels | U+00F9 | Alt+0249 | ù | ù |
| Ǹ | Capital N with grave | Extended letters | U+01F8 | Not standard | Not listed | Ǹ |
| ǹ | Lowercase n with grave | Extended letters | U+01F9 | Not standard | Not listed | ǹ |
| Ẁ | Capital W with grave | Extended letters | U+1E80 | Not standard | Not listed | Ẁ |
| ẁ | Lowercase w with grave | Extended letters | U+1E81 | Not standard | Not listed | ẁ |
| Ỳ | Capital Y with grave | Extended letters | U+1EF2 | Not standard | Not listed | Ỳ |
| ỳ | Lowercase y with grave | Extended letters | U+1EF3 | Not standard | Not listed | ỳ |
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
What the grave accent means
The grave accent is a diagonal mark that falls toward the right. Its name describes the mark, not one universal sound. French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Welsh, and other languages assign it different spelling and pronunciation roles.
French uses è for a vowel quality and uses à, là, and où in distinctions between words. Italian commonly uses the grave accent in final stressed vowels, while other languages may use the same mark for tone or vowel quality.
The keyboard grave character ` is spacing punctuation and is also used in programming contexts. It is not the same as a finished letter such as è or the combining grave mark U+0300.
Grave è and acute é point in opposite directions
The grave accent falls to the right in è. The acute accent rises to the right in é. Copy the complete character because substituting one mark can change the spelling or meaning.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions about Grave accent
Which way does a grave accent point?
It descends from upper left to lower right, as in à. The acute accent points the other way.
What is the Alt code for è?
On Windows with a numeric keypad, hold Alt and enter 0232 for è or 0200 for È.
Is the grave accent the same as a backtick?
No. The backtick or grave key produces a spacing character. It can act as a dead key on some layouts, but è is a finished accented letter.
Why does French use both é and è?
They are different E forms with different marks and typical vowel qualities. Their exact use follows the spelling of each word.
How do I type ỳ in Word?
Type 1EF3 and press Alt+X for ỳ. Type 1EF2 and press Alt+X for Ỳ.
Related character pages
References: Unicode grave accent record, Académie française language guidance, Unicode Combining Diacritical Marks, Unicode Latin Extended-A, Unicode Latin Extended Additional, Apple accent entry guidance, Microsoft character code guidance.