How to Type Ǎ / ǎ (A With a Caron)
ǎ is a lowercase a with a caron, the small v-shaped mark that dips in the middle. The capital is Ǎ. You may also see the caron called a háček.
Most people who need it are writing Pinyin, where ǎ is the third-tone a. There’s no Windows Alt code and no Mac shortcut for it, so the quickest route is usually to copy it below, or to set up a shortcut if you type Chinese often. This guide covers both, plus a bit on where the mark comes from.
In a hurry?
- Copy it: grab ǎ or Ǎ from the box below.
- In Word: type 01CE and press Alt + X for ǎ (01CD for Ǎ).
- On Linux: press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 01ce, then Enter.
- Typing lots of Pinyin: set up a text shortcut so a3 expands to ǎ, or use a Pinyin tone-mark tool.
- Not sure it’s a caron? A pointed v is the caron (ǎ); a rounded cup is the breve (ă).
Copy and paste ǎ
Highlight the character you need and copy it. The last three columns are there if you’d rather type or code the letter yourself. Like most caron letters, ǎ has no named HTML entity, only a numeric one.
| Character | Unicode | Windows | Mac | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ǎ | U+01CE | 01CE then Alt + X (Word) | Character Viewer | ǎ |
| Ǎ | U+01CD | 01CD then Alt + X (Word) | Character Viewer | Ǎ |
What the caron on a means
The caron (ˇ) is a small v. On consonants like č or š it softens the sound, but on a vowel it usually points to something else.
In Pinyin, the romanised spelling of Mandarin Chinese, a mark over the vowel shows the tone. ǎ is the third tone, the one that dips down and then rises again, as in nǎ (“which”) or mǎ (“horse”). The shape is a handy reminder: the little v falls and then climbs, just like the pitch of the tone.
That small mark changes the word. mā, má, mǎ, and mà are four different words, and the caron is what makes the third one a horse rather than a mother.
| Tone | Mark | Letter | Roughly sounds like |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | macron | ā | high and level |
| Second | acute | á | rising, like a question |
| Third | caron | ǎ | dips down, then rises |
| Fourth | grave | à | a sharp drop |
| Neutral | none | a | light and short |
When a syllable has more than one vowel, the tone mark doesn’t just land anywhere. a and e always take it, so it’s hǎo and xiǎo, not haǒ. In an ou pair the o takes it, and otherwise it goes on the last vowel. That’s why you’ll nearly always see the caron sitting on the a when one is present.
One quirk worth knowing: when two third tones run together, the first is spoken as a rising second tone. nǐ hǎo comes out sounding like ní hǎo. The spelling keeps both carons; only the pronunciation shifts.
Common Pinyin words with ǎ
A few everyday third-tone words, to see the caron in context.
| Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|
| mǎ | horse |
| hǎo | good |
| xiǎo | small |
| zǎo | early, morning |
| lǎo | old |
| nǎ | which |
| pǎo | to run |
All the tone-marked vowels
If you’re writing full Pinyin, ǎ never travels alone. Here’s the complete set of tone marks across the vowels, third tone included.
| Vowel | First (¯) | Second (´) | Third (ˇ) | Fourth (`) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | ā | á | ǎ | à |
| e | ē | é | ě | è |
| i | ī | í | ǐ | ì |
| o | ō | ó | ǒ | ò |
| u | ū | ú | ǔ | ù |
| ü | ǖ | ǘ | ǚ | ǜ |
The caron beyond Pinyin
Away from Pinyin, the caron is better known as the Czech háček. On consonants it softens the sound: c becomes č (“ch”), s becomes š (“sh”), z becomes ž (“zh”). The mark was worked into Czech spelling in the early 1400s, in reforms linked to Jan Hus, and later spread to Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian, and the Baltic languages.
On the vowel a, though, the caron is mostly a Pinyin thing. If you’ve got ǎ in front of you and you’re not reading Mandarin, it can be a stand-in for the breve (ă) or a phonetics “short vowel” mark, so it’s worth checking which one the source meant.
How to type ǎ on any device
ǎ sits well above the basic Latin range, so most of the usual accent shortcuts skip it. Here’s what works on each device, and where the shortcuts run out.
Windows
There’s no Alt + 0xxx code for ǎ. Alt codes stop at 255, and this one is code point 462.
What works: press Windows + . to open the symbol panel, click the Ω tab, and pick ǎ from the Latin set. Or open Character Map and copy it. In Word, type 01CE and press Alt + X (use 01CD for Ǎ).
If you type Pinyin regularly, set up a text expansion. Word’s AutoCorrect can turn a3 into ǎ (File, then Options, then Proofing, then AutoCorrect Options). For the same trick in every app, a small AutoHotkey line (::a3::ǎ) makes it system-wide.
One thing to know about Pinyin input: the Microsoft Pinyin keyboard turns what you type into Chinese characters, so you won’t see ǎ at all. If you need the romanised letter itself, copy it or use a dedicated Pinyin-with-tones tool.
Mac
The Mac’s Option-key accents cover acute, grave, circumflex, tilde, and umlaut, but not the caron, so there’s no two-key shortcut for ǎ.
Open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space, search for “caron,” and double-click ǎ. As on Windows, a Chinese input source gives you characters rather than the romanised ǎ.
For regular use, add a system Text Replacement under System Settings, then Keyboard, then Text Replacements. Set a3 to expand to ǎ and it works in almost every app.
iPhone and Android
The default keyboard’s long-press on a doesn’t include ǎ.
Copy it from the box above, or add a keyboard made for Pinyin tone marks. Some third-party keyboards let you long-press a vowel and choose the tone; the built-in Chinese keyboards hand you characters instead of the romanised letter.
To make it permanent, set up a shortcut. On iPhone: Settings, then General, then Keyboard, then Text Replacement, with ǎ as the phrase and a3 as the shortcut. On Android with Gboard: add ǎ to the Personal dictionary with a3 as its shortcut.
Microsoft Word
Word reaches ǎ even when Windows can’t on its own. Type 01CE and press Alt + X, and it becomes ǎ. Use 01CD for Ǎ.
For repeat use, save it as an AutoCorrect entry under File, then Options, then Proofing, mapping a trigger like a3 (or something you’d never type by accident).
Linux
Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 01ce, then press Enter. With a Compose key set up, the caron sequence is Compose, then the < key, then a.
Excel and Google Sheets
Alt codes don’t reach ǎ here either. Use the UNICHAR formula: =UNICHAR(462) returns ǎ and =UNICHAR(461) returns Ǎ. It’s the same in Google Sheets.
Outside a formula, paste ǎ from the copy box or from Insert, then Symbol.
Google Docs
Open Insert, then Special characters, and type “a with caron” in the search box, or draw the v shape in the sketch pad and pick ǎ. If you use it often, set up a substitution under Tools, then Preferences, so a3 becomes ǎ as you type. On a Mac, the Character Viewer works inside Docs too.
HTML and CSS
ǎ has no named HTML entity, so use the numeric ones: ǎ for ǎ and Ǎ for Ǎ. In a CSS content value, the escaped code point is \01ce.
Typing a lot of Pinyin
If you’re writing whole sentences of romanised Pinyin, don’t add carons one at a time. Pinyin tone-mark editors let you type the tone number after each syllable (hao3) and convert the lot to hǎo in one pass. A system-wide text expansion (a3 to ǎ, as above) is the other approach that scales.
Troubleshooting
“Alt + 0462 doesn’t work.”
It can’t. Windows Alt codes only run to 255, and ǎ is code point 462. Use Character Map, the Windows + . panel, or Word’s 01CE then Alt + X.
“My Pinyin keyboard gives Chinese characters, not ǎ.”
That’s exactly what a Pinyin IME is built to do. To get the romanised ǎ itself, copy it from above, use Word’s Alt + X, or a tool made for Pinyin tone marks.
“The caron landed on the wrong vowel.”
In a multi-vowel syllable the mark has a set place: a or e take it first, then o in an ou pair, otherwise the last vowel. So it’s hǎo, not haǒ. If a tool put it elsewhere, it split the syllable wrong.
“Is this ǎ, ă, or â?”
Check the shape on top. A pointed v that dips in the middle is the caron (ǎ). A rounded cup is the breve (ă). A pointed hat is the circumflex (â).
“It pastes as a box or a question mark.”
The other program is using a non-Unicode encoding that doesn’t include ǎ. Save or paste as UTF-8 and it will hold.
FAQ
What does the caron on a mean in Pinyin?
It marks the third tone, the one that dips and then rises. So mǎ, with the caron, is the third-tone syllable, separate from mā, má, and mà.
How do I type all four Pinyin tones on a?
They’re four separate accents over the same letter: ā (first), á (second), ǎ (third), and à (fourth). The á guide covers the acute, and the a with accent guide has the full set.
Where does the tone mark go in a syllable?
On the main vowel. a and e always take it, o takes it in an ou pair, and otherwise it lands on the last vowel. So hǎo and xiǎo keep the mark on the a.
Does ǎ have a Windows Alt code?
No. It’s code point 462, past the Alt-code limit of 255. Use Character Map, Windows + ., or Word’s 01CE then Alt + X.
What’s the fastest way to type ǎ just once?
Copy it from the box above. For a document full of Pinyin, set up an a3-to-ǎ shortcut or use a tone-mark input tool rather than adding carons one at a time.
