How to Type ă (A with breve) on Excel

Published July 9, 2026, 2 min read

ă is a with breve, a letter used in Romanian and Vietnamese. On Excel, the quickest way to get it is =UNICHAR(259). This guide covers every method that works, including the capital Ă and fixes for common problems.

ă on Excel: =UNICHAR(259)

Ă on Excel: =UNICHAR(258)

Or copy it:

Method 1: UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(259) in a cell to get ă. To check a letter, =UNICODE("ă") returns 259. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Method 2: Keyboard methods inside a cell

Double-click the cell, then use Insert → Symbol (Unicode hex 0103) on Windows or Unicode Hex Input (Option + 0103) on a Mac.

Method 3: Find and replace accented text

Use =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"ă","a") to strip this accent from a column, for example when cleaning names for an email system that does not accept accents.

How to type the capital Ă

The uppercase form works the same way with Shift added where a letter is typed.

UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(258) in a cell to get Ă. To check a letter, =UNICODE("Ă") returns 258. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Keyboard methods inside a cell

Double-click the cell, then use Insert → Symbol (Unicode hex 0102) on Windows or Unicode Hex Input (Option + 0102) on a Mac.

About the letter ă

ă is Unicode U+0103, named LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE. It is used in Romanian and Vietnamese. A small cup above a letter. Romanian uses ă, Turkish ğ, Vietnamese ă, and Esperanto ŭ. See the ă character page for every code and shortcut.

Troubleshooting

UNICHAR is not available in Excel 2010 and earlier.
CSV files saved as plain "CSV" may lose accents. Save as "CSV UTF-8".
If accents show as question marks after import, set the file origin to 65001: Unicode (UTF-8) in the import wizard.

Frequently asked questions

What is the shortcut for ă on Excel?

=UNICHAR(259).

Can I just copy and paste ă?

Yes. Click the copy button above, then paste with Ctrl+V on Windows and Chromebook, Cmd+V on a Mac, or touch and hold and choose Paste on a phone.

What is the Unicode code for ă?

U+0103. In HTML it is ă.

Related guides

All accent shortcuts for Excel