Which accented e do you need?
The accent tells you the language. Pick the keyboard for yours and every letter it needs is one click away.
é e with acute: A short stroke rising to the right. Marks stress in Spanish, vowel quality in French and Italian, and long vowels in Hungarian, Czech and Irish. Used in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Czech.
è e with grave: A short stroke falling to the right. Common in French and Italian, where it changes pronunciation or distinguishes words such as a and à. Used in French, Italian, Dutch, Vietnamese, Catalan.
ê e with circumflex: A small inverted V. In French it usually marks a vowel that once had a following s (forêt, hôtel). Also used in Portuguese, Romanian, Welsh and Esperanto. Used in French, Portuguese, Dutch, Vietnamese, Welsh.
ë e with diaeresis: Two dots above a letter. Called an umlaut in German (ä, ö, ü), where it changes the vowel sound, and a diaeresis in French, Dutch and Spanish, where it shows two vowels are pronounced separately. Used in French, Dutch, Welsh, Afrikaans.
ē e with macron: A straight bar above the letter marking a long vowel. Used in Latvian, Māori, Hawaiian and in romanised Japanese and Latin. Used in Latvian, Hawaiian, Māori, Chinese Pinyin.
ě e with caron: A small V above the letter, also called a háček or wedge. Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian and Lithuanian use it for sounds like ch, sh and zh. Used in Czech, Chinese Pinyin.
How to type e with an accent on Windows
Alt codes
Hold Alt, type the code on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, then release Alt. The number row above the letters does not work.
| Letter | Alt code | Letter | Alt code |
|---|---|---|---|
Alt+0233 | Alt+0201 | ||
Alt+0232 | Alt+0200 | ||
Alt+0234 | Alt+0202 | ||
Alt+0235 | Alt+0203 |
ē ě ę ẽ ė ȩ ĕ ẹ ẻ ế ề ễ ệ ể ḙ ḛ ḗ ḕ have no classic Alt code. Use one of the methods below for those.
US-International keyboard (dead keys)
Switch to the United States-International layout (Settings → Time & Language → Language → English → Options → Add a keyboard). Then press the accent key, release it, and press the letter:
- ' then the letter gives é
- ` then the letter gives è
- Shift+6 (^) then the letter gives ê
- Shift+` (~) then the letter gives ẽ
- Shift+' (") then the letter gives ë
- ' then c (for ç only) gives ȩ
- AltGr+E gives é directly
Emoji and symbol panel
Press Win+., open the Symbols tab (Ω), choose Latin symbols and click the letter. Works in every app and needs no numpad. Character Map (search it in the Start menu) does the same for older versions of Windows.
How to type e with an accent on a Mac
Press and hold
Hold the E key for a second. A small menu appears with è é ê ë ē ė ę. Press the number shown under the one you want, or click it. Hold Shift first for the capital.
Option dead keys
Press the Option combination, release it, then press the letter.
- Option+E, E gives é, Option+E, Shift+E gives É
- Option+`, E gives è, Option+`, Shift+E gives È
- Option+I, E gives ê, Option+I, Shift+E gives Ê
- Option+U, E gives ë, Option+U, Shift+E gives Ë
Character Viewer
Press Control+⌘+Space, type "e with" in the search box and double-click the letter. For carons, macrons, ogoneks and other marks that the US layout cannot type, add the ABC Extended input source (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources) which has dead keys for all of them.
How to type e with an accent on iPhone, iPad and Android
- Press and hold the E key.
- A pop-up shows è é ê ë ē ė ę.
- Slide your finger onto the one you want and release.
For frequent use, save a shortcut: on iPhone go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement; on Android open Gboard → Dictionary → Personal dictionary. Enter the accented letter as the phrase and a short code as the shortcut.
Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Google Docs
Microsoft Word
Word has built-in accent shortcuts. Press the combination, release it, then type the letter:
- Ctrl+', e gives é
- Ctrl+`, e gives è
- Ctrl+Shift+^, e gives ê
- Ctrl+Shift+:, e gives ë
For any form, type its Unicode hex code and press Alt+X: 00E9 → é, 00E8 → è, 00EA → ê, 00EB → ë, and so on. You can also use Insert → Symbol → More Symbols with the subset set to Latin-1 Supplement or Latin Extended-A. AutoCorrect (File → Options → Proofing) can replace a code such as e~ with the letter automatically.
Excel and Google Sheets
Alt codes and paste work in cells. For a formula, use =UNICHAR(233) in Excel or =CHAR(233) in Google Sheets to get é.
Google Docs
Go to Insert → Special characters, then search "e with" or draw the letter in the sketch box. Docs also accepts Alt codes on Windows and Option dead keys on Mac. Under Tools → Preferences → Substitutions you can make Docs replace a code of your choosing with the accented letter.
E with accent in HTML, CSS and code
| Letter | HTML | Numeric | CSS | JavaScript | LaTeX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| é | é | é | "\00E9" | "\u00E9" | \'{e} |
| è | è | è | "\00E8" | "\u00E8" | \`{e} |
| ê | ê | ê | "\00EA" | "\u00EA" | \^{e} |
| ë | ë | ë | "\00EB" | "\u00EB" | \"{e} |
| ē | ē | ē | "\0113" | "\u0113" | \={e} |
| ě | ě | ě | "\011B" | "\u011B" | \v{e} |
| ę | ę | ę | "\0119" | "\u0119" | \k{e} |
| ẽ | ẽ | ẽ | "\1EBD" | "\u1EBD" | \~{e} |
| ė | ė | ė | "\0117" | "\u0117" | \.{e} |
| ȩ | ȩ | ȩ | "\0229" | "\u0229" | \c{e} |
| ĕ | ĕ | ĕ | "\0115" | "\u0115" | \u{e} |
| ẹ | ẹ | ẹ | "\1EB9" | "\u1EB9" | \d{e} |
| ẻ | ẻ | ẻ | "\1EBB" | "\u1EBB" | — |
| ế | ế | ế | "\1EBF" | "\u1EBF" | — |
| ề | ề | ề | "\1EC1" | "\u1EC1" | — |
| ễ | ễ | ễ | "\1EC5" | "\u1EC5" | — |
| ệ | ệ | ệ | "\1EC7" | "\u1EC7" | — |
| ể | ể | ể | "\1EC3" | "\u1EC3" | — |
| ḙ | ḙ | ḙ | "\1E19" | "\u1E19" | — |
| ḛ | ḛ | ḛ | "\1E1B" | "\u1E1B" | — |
| ḗ | ḗ | ḗ | "\1E17" | "\u1E17" | — |
| ḕ | ḕ | ḕ | "\1E15" | "\u1E15" | — |
Because these are ordinary Unicode characters, you can paste them straight into any UTF-8 file. The escapes only matter when the encoding is uncertain or you cannot type the letter.
Building any accent with combining marks
If you need a form Unicode does not precompose, or you are typing in an app that only has a plain e, type the letter and follow it with a combining mark. The mark sits on the previous character. Click any example to copy the two-character sequence.
In Word, type the letter, then the mark's hex code (for example 0301 for acute) and press Alt+X. On a Mac the Character Viewer lists them under Combining Diacritical Marks. Note that search engines and spell checkers treat a combined sequence differently from a precomposed letter, so prefer the precomposed form when one exists.
Troubleshooting
- The Alt code types something else. Add the leading zero (Alt+0241, not Alt+241) and use the numeric keypad with Num Lock on. Laptops without a numpad need Win + . instead.
- Press-and-hold shows nothing. On a Mac, key repeat may be enabled instead of the accent menu; run
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool truein Terminal and log out. On phones, the letter may not be in your keyboard's language. - Wrong accent. é (acute) and è (grave) look similar at small sizes but are different letters; a search for one will not find the other.
- A box or question mark appears after pasting. The font in that app lacks the glyph. Switch to a font with full Latin coverage such as Arial, Calibri, Noto Sans or Segoe UI.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Alt code for é? +
Hold Alt and type 0233 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt. The capital É is Alt+0201. Alt codes need Num Lock on and a real numpad.
How do I type é with an accent on a Mac? +
Press and hold E or e on the keyboard and a menu of accented forms appears (è é ê ë ē ė ę); press the number under the one you want. Or use the dead key: Option+E, E gives é.
How do I type é on iPhone and Android? +
Press and hold the E key. A pop-up shows è é ê ë ē ė ę. Slide your finger to the one you want and release. Android's Gboard works the same way.
Which languages use e with an accent? +
French (é è ê ë), Spanish (é), Portuguese (é ê), Italian (é è), Polish (ę), Czech (é ě), Slovak (é), Hungarian (é) and others.
How do I type é in Microsoft Word? +
Type 00E9 where you want the letter and press Alt + X; Word converts the code to é. Word also has a shortcut: Ctrl+', e gives é.
What is the HTML code for é? +
Use é or the numeric é. In CSS content use "\00E9" and in JavaScript "\u00E9".