Symbols

Œ / œ (OE Ligature): How to Type and Copy It

ByGlenda Jnku

Copy and paste the OE ligature

The œ ligature in both cases, with the codes you’re likely to need. Use the grid above to copy with one click; this table is the reference.

Character	Name	Unicode	Windows	Mac	HTML
œ	oe ligature (lower)	U+0153	Alt + 0156	Option + q	œ
Œ	OE ligature (upper)	U+0152	Alt + 0140	Shift + Option + q	Œ

The ligature isn’t on an English keyboard, so œ takes a shortcut, a code, or a copy. The sections below cover each device, then what this fused letter actually is.

How to type œ on any device

Type œ on Windows

Turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, and type 0156 on the numeric keypad for œ, or 0140 for the capital Œ. There’s no short-code alternative, so if you use it often, the copy grid above or a text-replacement shortcut is worth setting up.

Type œ on Mac

The Mac makes this easy: press Option + q for œ, and Shift + Option + q for the capital Œ. It’s a single shortcut with no dead-key step, which is why Mac users rarely need to look it up.

Type œ on iPhone and Android

Press and hold the o key on the keyboard. On most keyboards the œ ligature appears in the pop-up of options; slide onto it and lift your finger. If it’s not there, add a French keyboard, where œ is readily available, or copy it from the grid above.

Type œ in Microsoft Word

Type 0153 then press Alt + X to convert the code into œ (use 0152 for Œ). Or go to Insert → Symbol → More Symbols and find it among the Latin Extended-A characters. The Windows Alt code, Alt + 0156, also works.

Type œ on Linux

Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 0153, then Enter. With a Compose key, Compose then o then e also makes œ.

Type œ in HTML and CSS

In HTML, œ is œ or the numeric œ (capital Œ is Œ). In CSS, a literal œ in a content value is the escaped code point \0153.

Is œ one letter or two?

This is the question that makes œ interesting, and the answer is “it depends on why it’s joined.” There are two kinds of joined letters. Some ligatures are purely cosmetic — when a font tucks f and i together into fi so the dot doesn’t clash, that’s just typesetting, and the word is still spelled f-i. But œ is different: in French and in classical spellings it’s a linguistic ligature, a fusion that’s part of how the word is actually spelled.

So in a French word like œuvre, the œ isn’t the printer’s decision — it’s the correct spelling, and writing “oeuvre” is a compromise, not the real thing. Unicode treats œ as a single character (U+0153) precisely because it behaves as one letter: it has its own code, its own keyboard shortcut, and it’s alphabetised as though it were “oe.” Think of it as one letter that remembers it used to be two.

The French œ: œuf, sœur, and why it’s not optional

French is where œ earns its keep. A cluster of common words are spelled with it: œuf (egg), sœur (sister), cœur (heart), bœuf (beef), œil (eye), and œuvre (work). In these, the o and e have merged into a single sound, and the ligature reflects that — it’s pronounced roughly like the vowel in the English “her.”

Strictly, the ligature is required: œuf is correct and oeuf is a spelling error, even though the split version is widely tolerated online and in casual typing where the character is awkward to reach. The French even have an affectionate name for the shape, e dans l’o (“e in the o”). So if you’re writing French properly — a menu, a document, anything published — reach for the real œ rather than typing o and e separately.

œ vs oe: when languages join and when they split

English went the other way from French. Many words borrowed from Latin and Greek once used œ — œsophagus, fœtus, amœba, diarrhœa — but over the last century that ligature has been unpicked. British spelling mostly split it to a plain oe (oesophagus, foetus), and American spelling went further, often dropping to a single e (esophagus, fetus).

Old ligature	British	American
œsophagus	oesophagus	esophagus
fœtus	foetus	fetus
amœba	amoeba	ameba

So the same original word can appear three ways depending on era and country. The rule of thumb: keep œ for French and for deliberately classical or decorative English, but for everyday modern English follow your dialect’s plain spelling — oe in British, often just e in American. The æ ligature (as in encyclopædia) has followed exactly the same retreat.

Ethel: the ligature’s forgotten name

Here’s a piece of trivia almost no one knows: the œ ligature has its own name — ethel (sometimes spelled æthel or oethel). It comes from the name of an old runic letter, ỹðel, meaning “estate” or “native land,” used in Old English before the Latin alphabet fully took over.

So while most people just call it “the o-e” or “the OE ligature,” it’s technically ethel, a name with roots older than the modern alphabet. Its cousin, the æ ligature, is likewise named ash after another rune. These names survive mostly among typographers and linguists, but they’re a reminder that these fused letters aren’t quirks of modern printing — they’re some of the oldest characters still in use.

œ in search, sorting, and code

Because œ is a single character but means “oe,” it causes a subtle problem: a search for oeuf may not match œuf, since to a computer œ and oe are different strings. Good search engines and databases handle this with Unicode normalisation or accent-folding, treating œ as equivalent to oe, but plain string matching doesn’t, so it’s worth storing or indexing both forms if users might type either.

In a URL, œ is percent-encoded as %C5%93 (it’s a two-byte UTF-8 character), so œuvre becomes %C5%93uvre. In code, the escape is \u0153 in JavaScript, Java, JSON, and Python. And if œ ever shows as garbled characters or a box, the page is being read in the wrong encoding, so serve it as UTF-8.

Copy-paste HTML codes

Every code for the OE ligature in one place. Click a cell and copy.

Character	Named entity	Numeric entity	URL (percent) code
œ	œ	œ	%C5%93
Œ	Œ	Œ	%C5%92

In a CSS content value, use \0153 for œ. For its close relative see the [æ ligature](/ae-ligature/) guide, and for every accented letter the [letters with accents](/letters-with-accents/) hub.

Troubleshooting

My œ shows as a box or garbled text

That’s an encoding mismatch: the UTF-8 bytes for œ are being read as an older encoding (it isn’t in the older Latin-1 set, which makes it especially prone to this). Set the file, database, and page charset to UTF-8 and œ displays correctly.

A search for oe won’t find œuf

To a computer, œ and oe are different characters. Use Unicode normalisation or accent-folding in your search, or store both spellings, so “oeuf” and “œuf” match.

Alt + 0156 isn’t working

Make sure Num Lock is on and you’re using the numeric keypad, not the top-row numbers. On a laptop without a keypad, use Windows + . and search “oe,” or copy œ from the grid above.

FAQ

How do I type the œ ligature?

On Windows, hold Alt and type 0156 (Œ is 0140). On a Mac, press Option + q (Œ is Shift + Option + q). In Word, type 0153 then Alt + X. In HTML, write œ. Or click œ in the grid above.

Is œ one letter or two?

In French and classical spellings it behaves as one letter and is spelled that way on purpose, and Unicode gives it a single code (U+0153). It’s alphabetised as “oe,” so it’s really one letter that stands for two.

Do I have to use œ in French?

Strictly yes: words like œuf, sœur, and cœur are correctly spelled with the ligature, and “oeuf” is an error, though the split form is widely tolerated in casual typing. For anything published, use the real œ.

What’s the difference between œsophagus and esophagus?

They’re the same word at different stages. The old spelling used the œ ligature; British English split it to “oe” (oesophagus) and American English reduced it to “e” (esophagus).

How do I write œ in HTML?

Use œ or œ (capital Œ is Œ). In a URL, œ is %C5%93.