How to Type œ (Oe ligature (ethel)) on Excel

Published May 18, 2026, 2 min read

œ is oe ligature (ethel), a letter used in French. On Excel, the quickest way to get it is =UNICHAR(339). This guide covers every method that works, including the capital Œ and fixes for common problems.

œ on Excel: =UNICHAR(339)

Œ on Excel: =UNICHAR(338)

Or copy it:

Method 1: UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(339) in a cell to get œ. To check a letter, =UNICODE("œ") returns 339. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

Method 2: CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(156) also returns œ on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

Method 3: Keyboard methods inside a cell

Double-click the cell, then use Alt+0156 on Windows or Option+Q on a Mac.

Method 4: Find and replace accented text

Use =SUBSTITUTE(A1,"œ","o") 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 Œ

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

UNICHAR formula

Type =UNICHAR(338) in a cell to get Œ. To check a letter, =UNICODE("Œ") returns 338. Both work in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.

CHAR formula on Windows

=CHAR(140) also returns Œ on Windows, because it uses the Windows-1252 code page. On a Mac CHAR uses a different code page, so prefer UNICHAR.

About the letter œ

œ is Unicode U+0153, named LATIN SMALL LIGATURE OE. It is used in French. See the œ 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 œ on Excel?

=UNICHAR(339).

Can I just copy and paste œ?

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 œ?

U+0153. In HTML it is &oelig;.

Related guides

All accent shortcuts for Excel