What Is the Hook above? Meaning, Letters and How to Type It
A small question-mark-like hook above a vowel, used only in Vietnamese for the dipping-rising tone (ả, ể, ở).
Letters with the hook above: ả ẻ ỉ ỏ ủ ỷ
Combining character: U+0309
What the hook above does
A small question-mark-like hook above a vowel, used only in Vietnamese for the dipping-rising tone (ả, ể, ở). Unicode encodes 12 precomposed letters with this mark as their first diacritic, and the combining form U+0309 can add it to any other letter.
Languages that use it
All lowercase letters with the hook above
Codes and shortcuts
| Letter | Name | Unicode | Alt code | Mac |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ả | a with hook above | U+1EA3 | — | — |
| ẻ | e with hook above | U+1EBB | — | — |
| ỉ | i with hook above | U+1EC9 | — | — |
| ỏ | o with hook above | U+1ECF | — | — |
| ủ | u with hook above | U+1EE7 | — | — |
| ỷ | y with hook above | U+1EF7 | — | — |
How to type it on any letter
On Windows, hold Alt and type the code from the table, or type the letter followed by U+0309 in Word and press Alt+X. On a Mac, use Unicode Hex Input: type the letter, then hold Option and type 0309. On a Chromebook, type the letter, then Ctrl+Shift+U, 0309, Space.
Copy every letter with the hook above
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