Phonetic symbols in Unicode

This article contains phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of phonetic symbols.

Unicode supports several phonetic scripts and notation systems through its existing scripts and the addition of extra blocks with phonetic characters. These phonetic characters are derived from an existing script, usually Latin, Greek or Cyrillic. Apart from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), extensions to the IPA and obsolete and nonstandard IPA symbols, these blocks also contain characters from the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet and the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet.

Phonetic scripts

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) makes use of letters from other writing systems as most phonetic scripts do. IPA notably uses Latin, Greek and Cyrillic characters. Combining diacritics also add meaning to the phonetic text. Finally, these phonetic alphabets make use of modifier letters, that are specially constructed for phonetic meaning. A "modifier letter" is strictly intended not as an independent grapheme but as a modification of the preceding character^[1] resulting in a distinct grapheme, notably in the context of the International Phonetic Alphabet. For example, ʰ should not occur on its own but modifies the preceding or following symbol. Thus, tʰ is a single IPA symbol, distinct from t. In practice, however, several of these "modifier letters" are also used as full graphemes, e.g. ʿ as transliterating Semitic ayin or Hawaiian ʻokina, or ˚ transliterating Abkhaz ә.

From IPA to Unicode

Consonants

The following tables indicates the Unicode code point sequences for phonemes as used in the International Phonetic Alphabet. A bold code point indicates that the Unicode chart provides an application note such as "voiced retroflex lateral" for U+026D ɭ LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH RETROFLEX HOOK. An entry in bold italics indicates the character name itself refers to a phoneme such as U+0298 ʘ LATIN LETTER BILABIAL CLICK

Basic Latin/Greek Latin extended IPA extension

	Bilabial		Labiodental		Dental		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Retroflex		Labialized palatal		Postalveolar-velar
Plosive	p `U+0070`	b `U+0062`	p̪ `U+0070 U+032A`	b̪ `U+0062 U+032A`	t̪ `U+0074 U+032A`	d̪ `U+0064 U+032A`	t `U+0074`	d `U+0064`			ʈ `U+0288`	ɖ `U+0256`
Implosive	ɓ̥ `U+0253 U+0325`	ɓ `U+0253`				ɗ̪ `U+0257 U+032A`		ɗ `U+0257`				ᶑ `U+1D91`
Ejective	pʼ `U+0070 U+02BC`				t̪ʼ `U+0074 U+032A U+02BC`		tʼ `U+0074 U+02BC`				ʈʼ `U+0288 U+02BC`
Nasal	m̥ `U+006D U+0325`	m `U+006D`	ɱ̊ `U+0271 U+030A`	ɱ `U+0271`	n̪̊ `U+006E U+032A U+030A`	n̪ `U+006E U+032A`	n̥ `U+006E U+0325`	n `U+006E`			ɳ̊ `U+0273 U+030A`	ɳ `U+0273`
Trill		ʙ `U+0299`					r̥ `U+0072 U+0325`	r `U+0072`				*
Tap or Flap		ⱱ̟ `U+2C71 U+031F`		ⱱ `U+2C71`				ɾ `U+027E`				ɽ `U+027D`
Lateral flap								ɺ `U+027A`				𝼈 `U+1DF08`
Fricative	ɸ `U+0278`	β `U+03B2`	f `U+0066`	v `U+0076`	θ `U+03B8`	ð `U+00F0`	s `U+0073`	z `U+007A`	ʃ `U+0283`	ʒ `U+0292`	ʂ `U+0282`	ʐ `U+0290`			ɧ `U+0267`
Lateral fricative							ɬ `U+026C`	ɮ `U+026E`			ꞎ `U+A78E`
Ejective fricative							sʼ `U+0073 U+02BC`		ʃʼ `U+0283 U+02BC`
Ejective lateral fricative							ɬʼ `U+026C U+02BC`
Percussive	ʬ `U+02AC`				ʭ `U+02AD`
Approximant	β̞̊ `U+03B2 U+031E U+030A`	β̞ `U+03B2 U+031E`	ʋ̥ `U+028B U+0325`	ʋ `U+028B`		ð̞ `U+00F0 U+031E`	ɹ̥ `U+0279 U+0325`	ɹ `U+0279`			ɻ̊ `U+027B U+030A`	ɻ `U+027B`	ɥ̊ `U+0265 U+030A`	ɥ `U+0265`
Lateral approximant							l̥ `U+006C U+0325`	l `U+006C`				ɭ `U+026D`
Click consonant	ʘ `U+0298`				ǀ `U+01C0`		ǃ `U+01C3`		ǃ / ǂ `U+01C3` / `U+01C2`		𝼊 `U+1DF0A`
Lateral click					*		ǁ `U+01C1`

	Alveolo-palatal		Palatal		Labial-velar		Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal		Epiglottal		Glottal
Plosive	ȶ `U+0236`	ȡ `U+0221`	c `U+0063`	ɟ `U+025F`	k͡p `U+006B U+0361 U+0070`	ɡ͡b `U+0261 U+0361 U+0062`	k `U+006B`	ɡ `U+0261`	q `U+0071`	ɢ `U+0262`			ʡ `U+02A1`		ʔ `U+0294`
Implosive				ʄ `U+0284`				ɠ `U+0260`		ʛ `U+029B`
Ejective			cʼ `U+0063 U+02BC`				kʼ `U+006B U+02BC`		qʼ `U+0071 U+02BC`
Nasal		ȵ `U+0235`		ɲ `U+0272`		ŋ͡m `U+014B U+0361 U+006D`		ŋ `U+014B`		ɴ `U+0274`
Trill										ʀ `U+0280`				*
Tap or Flap														*
Lateral flap				*				*
Fricative	ɕ `U+0255`	ʑ `U+0291`	ç `U+00E7`	ʝ `U+029D`			x `U+0078`	ɣ `U+0263`	χ `U+03C7`	ʁ `U+0281`	ħ `U+0127`	ʕ `U+0295`	ʜ `U+029C`	ʢ `U+02A2`	h `U+0068`	ɦ `U+0266`
Approximant				j `U+006A`	ʍ `U+028D`	w `U+0077`		ɰ `U+0270`
Lateral approximant		ȴ `U+0234`		ʎ `U+028E`				ʟ `U+029F`

Vowels

IPA: Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y	ɨ ʉ	ɯ u
Near-close	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
Close-mid	e ø	ɘ ɵ	ɤ o
Mid	e̞ ø̞	ə	ɤ̞ o̞
Open-mid	ɛ œ	ɜ ɞ	ʌ ɔ
Near-open	æ	ɐ
Open	a ɶ	ä	ɑ ɒ

Legend: unrounded • rounded

The following figures depict the phonetic vowels and their Unicode / UCS code points, arranged to represent the phonetic vowel trapezium. Vowels appearing in pairs in the figure to the right indicate rounded and unrounded variations respectively. Again, characters with Unicode names referring to phonemes are indicated by bold text. Those with explicit application notes are indicated by bold italic text. Those from borrowed unchanged from another script (Latin, Greek or Cyrillic) are indicated by italics. Before and after a bullet are the unrounded • rounded vowels.

Unicode code points for phonetic vowels
	Front							Central							Back
Close	i • y `U+0069 • U+0079`							ɨ • ʉ `U+0268 • U+0289`							ɯ • u `U+026F • U+0075`
Near-close			ɪ • ʏ `U+026A • U+028F`						ɪ̈ • ʊ̈ `U+026A U+0308 • U+028A U+0308`					• ʊ `• U+028A`
Close-mid		e • ø `U+0065 • U+00F8`								ɘ • ɵ `U+0258 • U+0275`					ɤ • o `U+0264 • U+006F`
Mid				e̞ • ø̞ `U+0065 U+031E • U+00F8 U+031E`							ə `U+0259`				ɤ̞ • o̞ `U+0264 U+031E • U+006F U+031E`
Open-mid					ɛ • œ `U+025B • U+0153`							ɜ • ɞ `U+025C • U+025E`			ʌ • ɔ `U+028C • U+0254`
Near-open						æ • `U+00E6 •`							ɐ `U+0250`
Open							a • ɶ `U+0061 • U+0276`				ä • `U+0061 U+0308 •`				ɑ • ɒ `U+0251 • U+0252`

Diacritics

Diacritics may be encoded as either modifier (e.g. ˳) or combining (e.g. ◌̥) characters.

Voiceless	Breathy Voiced	Dental	Syllabic
˳ • ◌̥ `U+02F3 • U+0325`	◌̤ `U+0324`	◌͏̪ `U+032A`	ˌ • ◌̩ `U+02CC • U+0329`
Voiced	Creaky Voiced	Apical	Non-syllabic
ˬ • ◌̬ `U+02EC • U+032C`	˷ • ◌̰ `U+02F7 • U+0330`	˽ • ◌̺ `U+02FD • U+033A`	◌͏̯ `U+032F`
Aspirated	Linguolabial	Laminal	More Rounded
ʰ `U+02B0`	◌͏̼ `U+033C`	◌͏̻ `U+033B`	˒ • ◌̹ `U+02D2 • U+0339`
Labialized	Nasalized	Palatalized	Less Rounded
ʷ `U+02B7`	◌̃ `U+0303`	ʲ `U+02B2`	˓ • ◌̜ `U+02D3 • U+031C`
Advanced	Nasal release	Centralized	Velarized
˖ • ◌̟ `U+02D6 • U+031F`	ⁿ `U+207F`	¨ • ◌̈ `U+00A8^[1] • U+0308`	ˠ `U+02E0`
Retracted	Lateral release	Mid-Centralized	Pharyngealized
ˍ • ◌̠ `U+02CD • U+0320`	ˡ `U+02E1`	˟ • ◌̽ `U+02DF • U+033D`	ˤ `U+02E4`
Advanced Tongue Root	No audible release	Raised	Velarized or Pharyngealized
꭪ • ◌̘ `U+AB6A • U+0318`	˺ • ◌̚ `U+02FA • U+031A`	˔ • ◌̝ `U+02D4 • U+031D`	◌̴ `U+0334`
Retracted Tongue Root	Rhoticity	Lowered	Lengthened
꭫ • ◌̙ `U+AB6B • U+0319`	˞ `U+02DE`	˕ • ◌̞ `U+02D5 • U+031E`	ː `U+02D0`
Notes 1.^ The codepoint refers to diaeresis, which takes up space but is not a Spacing Modifier Letter.

Unicode blocks

Basic Latin (0020–007E), IPA example: Palatal approximant (006A)
Latin-1 Supplement (0080–00FF), IPA example: Voiceless palatal fricative (00E7)
Latin Extended-A (0100–017F), IPA example: Velar nasal (014B)
Latin Extended-B (0180–024F), IPA example: Tenuis dental click (01C0 0287)
IPA Extensions (0250–02AF), IPA example: Voiced retroflex fricative (0290)
Spacing Modifier Letters (02B0–02FF), IPA example: Palatal ejective (0063 02BC)
Combining Diacritical Marks (0300–036F), IPA example: Voiceless bilabial nasal (006D 0325)
Greek and Coptic (0370–03FF), IPA example: Voiceless dental fricative (03B8)
Combining Diacritical Marks Extended (1AB0–1AFF), extIPA examples: combining parentheses
Combining Diacritical Marks Supplement (1DC0–1DFF), IPA example: Rising-falling contour tone (1DC8)
General Punctuation (2000–206F), IPA example: Linking (absence of a break) (203F)
Superscripts and Subscripts (2070–209F), IPA example: Nasal release (207F)
Arrows (2190–21FF), IPA example: Global rise (2197)
Latin Extended-C (2C60–2C7F), IPA example: Labiodental flap (2C71)
Modifier Tone Letters (A700–A71F), IPA example: Upstep (A71B)
Phonetic Extensions (1D00–1D7F)
Phonetic Extensions Supplement (1D80–1DBF)
Latin Extended-D (A720–A7FF), extIPA example: Voiceless retroflex lateral fricative (A78E)
Latin Extended-E (AB30–AB6F), IPA example: Voiceless retroflex affricate ligature (AB67)
Latin Extended-F (10780–107BF)
Latin Extended-G (1DF00–1DFFF), extIPA example: Voiceless palatal lateral fricative (1DF06)

Unicode blocks with many phonetic symbols

Six Unicode blocks contain many phonetic symbols:

IPA Extensions (U+0250–02AF)

IPA Extensions^[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+025x	ɐ	ɑ	ɒ	ɓ	ɔ	ɕ	ɖ	ɗ	ɘ	ə	ɚ	ɛ	ɜ	ɝ	ɞ	ɟ
U+026x	ɠ	ɡ	ɢ	ɣ	ɤ	ɥ	ɦ	ɧ	ɨ	ɩ	ɪ	ɫ	ɬ	ɭ	ɮ	ɯ
U+027x	ɰ	ɱ	ɲ	ɳ	ɴ	ɵ	ɶ	ɷ	ɸ	ɹ	ɺ	ɻ	ɼ	ɽ	ɾ	ɿ
U+028x	ʀ	ʁ	ʂ	ʃ	ʄ	ʅ	ʆ	ʇ	ʈ	ʉ	ʊ	ʋ	ʌ	ʍ	ʎ	ʏ
U+029x	ʐ	ʑ	ʒ	ʓ	ʔ	ʕ	ʖ	ʗ	ʘ	ʙ	ʚ	ʛ	ʜ	ʝ	ʞ	ʟ
U+02Ax	ʠ	ʡ	ʢ	ʣ	ʤ	ʥ	ʦ	ʧ	ʨ	ʩ	ʪ	ʫ	ʬ	ʭ	ʮ	ʯ
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0

Spacing Modifier Letters (U+02B0–02FF)

The characters in the "Spacing Modifier Letters" block are intended as forming a unity with the preceding letter (which they "modify"). E.g. the character U+02B0 ʰ MODIFIER LETTER SMALL H isn't intended simply as a superscript h (^h), but as the mark of aspiration placed after the letter being aspirated, as in pʰ "aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive". The block contains:

Latin superscript modifier letters: (U+02B0–U+02B8): ʰ aspiration; ʱ breathy voice, murmured; ʲ palatalization; ʳ, ʴ, ʵ, ʶ r-coloring or r-offglides; ʷ labialization; ʸ palatalization, Americanist usage for U+02B2
Miscellaneous phonetic modifiers: (U+02B9–U+02D7): ʹ ʺ ʻ ʼ ʽ ʾ ʿ ˀ ˁ ˂ ˃ ˄ ˅ ˆ ˇ ˈ ˉ ˊ ˋ ˌ ˍ ˎ ˏ ː ˑ ˒ ˓ ˔ ˕ ˖ ˗
Spacing clones of diacritics: (U+02D8–U+02DD): ˘ breve; ˙ dot above; ˚ ring above; ˛ ogonek; ˜ small tilde; ˝ double acute accent
Additions based on 1989 IPA: (U+02DE–U+02E4): ˞ ˟ ˠ ˡ ˢ ˣ ˤ
Tone letters: (U+02E5–U+02E9): ˥ ˦ ˧ ˨ ˩
Extended Bopomofo tone marks: U+02EA ˪ MODIFIER LETTER YIN DEPARTING TONE MARK; U+02EB ˫ MODIFIER LETTER YANG DEPARTING TONE MARK
IPA modifiers: U+02EC ˬ MODIFIER LETTER VOICING, unaspirated
Other modifier letters: U+02EE ˮ MODIFIER LETTER DOUBLE APOSTROPHE for Nenets
Uralic Phonetic Alphabet (UPA) modifiers: (U+02EF–U+02FF): ˯ ˰ ˱ ˲ ˳ ˴ ˵ ˶ ˷ ˸ ˹ ˺ ˻ ˼ ˽ ˾ ˿

Spacing Modifier Letters^[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+02Bx	ʰ	ʱ	ʲ	ʳ	ʴ	ʵ	ʶ	ʷ	ʸ	ʹ	ʺ	ʻ	ʼ	ʽ	ʾ	ʿ
U+02Cx	ˀ	ˁ	˂	˃	˄	˅	ˆ	ˇ	ˈ	ˉ	ˊ	ˋ	ˌ	ˍ	ˎ	ˏ
U+02Dx	ː	ˑ	˒	˓	˔	˕	˖	˗	˘	˙	˚	˛	˜	˝	˞	˟
U+02Ex	ˠ	ˡ	ˢ	ˣ	ˤ	˥	˦	˧	˨	˩	˪	˫	ˬ	˭	ˮ	˯
U+02Fx	˰	˱	˲	˳	˴	˵	˶	˷	˸	˹	˺	˻	˼	˽	˾	˿
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0

Phonetic Extensions (U+1D00–1D7F)

This block, together with Phonetic Extensions Supplement below, contains:

Small capitals "ɢ ɪ ɴ ɶ ʀ ʏ ʙ ʜ ʟ"
Turned small letters "ɐ ɥ ɯ ɹ ɺ ɻ ʇ ʌ ʍ ʎ ʞ ʮ ʯ"
Extra small capitals "ʁ ʛ ᴀ ᴁ ᴃ ᴄ ᴅ ᴆ ᴇ ᴊ ᴋ ᴌ ᴍ ᴎ ᴏ ᴐ ᴘ ᴙ ᴚ ᴛ ᴜ ᴠ ᴡ ᴢ ᴣ ᴦ ᴧ ᴨ ᴩ ᴪ"
Letters with palatal hooks "ƫ ᶀ ᶁ ᶂ ᶃ ᶄ ᶅ ᶆ ᶇ ᶈ ᶉ ᶊ ᶋ ᶌ ᶍ ᶎ ᶪ ᶵ"
Letters with retroflex hooks "ᶏ ᶐ ᶒ ᶓ ᶔ ᶕ ᶖ ᶗ ᶘ ᶙ ᶚ ᶩ ᶯ ᶼ"

Phonetic Extensions^[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+1D0x	ᴀ	ᴁ	ᴂ	ᴃ	ᴄ	ᴅ	ᴆ	ᴇ	ᴈ	ᴉ	ᴊ	ᴋ	ᴌ	ᴍ	ᴎ	ᴏ
U+1D1x	ᴐ	ᴑ	ᴒ	ᴓ	ᴔ	ᴕ	ᴖ	ᴗ	ᴘ	ᴙ	ᴚ	ᴛ	ᴜ	ᴝ	ᴞ	ᴟ
U+1D2x	ᴠ	ᴡ	ᴢ	ᴣ	ᴤ	ᴥ	ᴦ	ᴧ	ᴨ	ᴩ	ᴪ	ᴫ	ᴬ	ᴭ	ᴮ	ᴯ
U+1D3x	ᴰ	ᴱ	ᴲ	ᴳ	ᴴ	ᴵ	ᴶ	ᴷ	ᴸ	ᴹ	ᴺ	ᴻ	ᴼ	ᴽ	ᴾ	ᴿ
U+1D4x	ᵀ	ᵁ	ᵂ	ᵃ	ᵄ	ᵅ	ᵆ	ᵇ	ᵈ	ᵉ	ᵊ	ᵋ	ᵌ	ᵍ	ᵎ	ᵏ
U+1D5x	ᵐ	ᵑ	ᵒ	ᵓ	ᵔ	ᵕ	ᵖ	ᵗ	ᵘ	ᵙ	ᵚ	ᵛ	ᵜ	ᵝ	ᵞ	ᵟ
U+1D6x	ᵠ	ᵡ	ᵢ	ᵣ	ᵤ	ᵥ	ᵦ	ᵧ	ᵨ	ᵩ	ᵪ	ᵫ	ᵬ	ᵭ	ᵮ	ᵯ
U+1D7x	ᵰ	ᵱ	ᵲ	ᵳ	ᵴ	ᵵ	ᵶ	ᵷ	ᵸ	ᵹ	ᵺ	ᵻ	ᵼ	ᵽ	ᵾ	ᵿ
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0

Phonetic Extensions Supplement (U+1D80–1DBF)

Phonetic Extensions Supplement^[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+1D8x	ᶀ	ᶁ	ᶂ	ᶃ	ᶄ	ᶅ	ᶆ	ᶇ	ᶈ	ᶉ	ᶊ	ᶋ	ᶌ	ᶍ	ᶎ	ᶏ
U+1D9x	ᶐ	ᶑ	ᶒ	ᶓ	ᶔ	ᶕ	ᶖ	ᶗ	ᶘ	ᶙ	ᶚ	ᶛ	ᶜ	ᶝ	ᶞ	ᶟ
U+1DAx	ᶠ	ᶡ	ᶢ	ᶣ	ᶤ	ᶥ	ᶦ	ᶧ	ᶨ	ᶩ	ᶪ	ᶫ	ᶬ	ᶭ	ᶮ	ᶯ
U+1DBx	ᶰ	ᶱ	ᶲ	ᶳ	ᶴ	ᶵ	ᶶ	ᶷ	ᶸ	ᶹ	ᶺ	ᶻ	ᶼ	ᶽ	ᶾ	ᶿ
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0

Modifier Tone Letters (U+A700–A71F)

Modifier Tone Letters^[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+A70x	꜀	꜁	꜂	꜃	꜄	꜅	꜆	꜇	꜈	꜉	꜊	꜋	꜌	꜍	꜎	꜏
U+A71x	꜐	꜑	꜒	꜓	꜔	꜕	꜖	ꜗ	ꜘ	ꜙ	ꜚ	ꜛ	ꜜ	ꜝ	ꜞ	ꜟ
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0

Superscripts and Subscripts (U+2070–209F)

Superscripts and Subscripts^[1]^[2]^[3] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	A	B	C	D	E	F
U+207x	⁰	ⁱ			⁴	⁵	⁶	⁷	⁸	⁹	⁺	⁻	⁼	⁽	⁾	ⁿ
U+208x	₀	₁	₂	₃	₄	₅	₆	₇	₈	₉	₊	₋	₌	₍	₎
U+209x	ₐ	ₑ	ₒ	ₓ	ₔ	ₕ	ₖ	ₗ	ₘ	ₙ	ₚ	ₛ	ₜ
Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points 3.^ Refer to the Latin-1 Supplement Unicode block for characters ¹ (U+00B9), ² (U+00B2) and ³ (U+00B3)

Font support for IPA

Input by selection from a screen

Many systems provide a way to select Unicode characters visually. ISO/IEC 14755 refers to this as a screen-selection entry method.

Microsoft Windows has provided a Unicode version of the Character Map program (find it by hitting ⊞ Win+R then type charmap then hit ↵ Enter) since version NT 4.0 – appearing in the consumer edition since XP. This is limited to characters in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP). Characters are searchable by Unicode character name, and the table can be limited to a particular code block. More advanced third-party tools of the same type are also available (a notable freeware example is BabelMap).

macOS provides a "character palette" with much the same functionality, along with searching by related characters, glyph tables in a font, etc. It can be enabled in the input menu in the menu bar under System Preferences → International → Input Menu (or System Preferences → Language and Text → Input Sources) or can be viewed under Edit → Emoji & Symbols in many programs.

Equivalent tools – such as gucharmap (GNOME) or kcharselect (KDE) – exist on most Linux desktop environments.

References

^ "Spacing modifier letters". Everything2.com. 2002-08-29. Retrieved 2016-01-23.

External links

Links to PDFs of Unicode codes for several phonetic symbol sets

[1] "Spacing modifier letters". Everything2.com. 2002-08-29. Retrieved 2016-01-23.

[1]