Punctuation & Typography

Acute Accent ´

U+00B4 Added in Unicode 1.1 (1993) Formerly “spacing acute”

The acute accent (´) is a standalone spacing character used to mark stress or vowel quality, as in résumé.

Alt code Alt+0180
Codes
Unicode
Unicode name
Decimal
Windows Alt code
HTML entity
HTML decimal
HTML hex
Encodings & code escapes +
UTF-8 (hex bytes)
UTF-16 (hex units)
UTF-32
URL encoded
CSS content
JavaScript / TypeScript
JSON, Java, C#, C/C++
Python
Go
Rust, Swift, PHP, Ruby
Perl

Click any value to copy it. All escapes refer to the same code point U+00B4.

How to type ´ on Windows

The fastest method on a full-size keyboard is the Alt code Alt+0180.

  1. Make sure Num Lock is on.
  2. Hold down the Alt key.
  3. Type 0180 on the numeric keypad (the number row will not work).
  4. Release Alt. The acute accent symbol ´ appears.

No numeric keypad?

Press Win+. to open the emoji panel, choose the Symbols tab (Ω) and search for "acute accent". Or open Character Map from the Start menu, find ´, click Select, then Copy.

How to type ´ on a Mac

There is no direct keyboard shortcut for ´ on a Mac.

For any symbol, the Character Viewer works: press Control+⌘+Space, type "acute accent" in the search box and double-click the result. It will be remembered under Frequently Used.

How to type ´ on iPhone and iPad

The iOS keyboard does not include ´, so the reliable way is to copy it from this page, then press and hold in any text field and tap Paste.

If you use it often, create a shortcut: open Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement, paste ´ in the Phrase field and type a short code such as ;acute in the Shortcut field. Typing that code will then insert ´ anywhere.

How to type ´ on Android

Copy the symbol from this page, then long-press in a text field and choose Paste. Gboard also keeps a clipboard history: tap the clipboard icon on the toolbar to paste it again later.

For a permanent shortcut, open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary, add ´ as the word and a short code as the shortcut.

How to type ´ in Microsoft Word

  1. Type the Unicode hex code 00B4 where you want the symbol.
  2. Press Alt+X. Word converts the code into ´.

This works on Windows in Word, Outlook and OneNote and needs no numeric keypad. You can also go to Insert → Symbol → More Symbols, set the font to a Unicode font and type 00B4 in the Character code box. In Excel, the formula =UNICHAR(180) returns the symbol.

How to type ´ in Google Docs

Open Insert → Special characters, then either search for "acute accent" or draw the symbol in the sketch box. Click the result to insert it. In Google Sheets, use =CHAR(180).

´ in HTML, CSS and code

FormatCode
HTML entity´
HTML decimal´
HTML hex´
CSS content"\00B4"
JavaScript"\u00B4"
Python"\u00B4"
URL encoded%C2%B4

Because ´ is a standard Unicode character (U+00B4), you can also paste it directly into any UTF-8 file. The escaped forms above are only needed when the file encoding is uncertain or the symbol must be entered on a keyboard without it.

Where the acute accent symbol is used

It appears in loanwords and transliterations like café or déjà vu, and in dictionaries to mark stressed syllables. People often confuse it with the apostrophe ('), but the acute accent is a diacritic mark, not a punctuation mark for contractions.

Frequently asked questions

Is the acute accent the same as an apostrophe? +

No. The apostrophe marks contractions or possession, while the acute accent is a diacritic used to modify letters or show pronunciation.

What does the acute accent mean in a word? +

It usually indicates that a vowel should be pronounced with stress or a specific sound, depending on the language.

What is the Alt code for the acute accent symbol? +

The Alt code for ´ is Alt+0180. Hold Alt, type 0180 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.

How do I type ´ on a Mac? +

There is no dedicated Mac shortcut for ´. Open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space, search for "acute accent", and double-click it. Or copy it from this page.

How do I type the acute accent symbol on iPhone or Android? +

Phone keyboards do not include ´ by default. Copy it from this page and paste it, or add it as a text replacement shortcut in Settings so you can type it with a short abbreviation.

What is the HTML code for ´? +

Use ´ in HTML. The numeric form ´ works too. In CSS use content: "\00B4" and in JavaScript use "\u00B4".

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