Õ / õ (O With Tilde): How to Type and Copy It
The letter õ is an o with a tilde — the little wave on top. In Portuguese it marks a nasal sound, as in limões (lemons) and opiniões (opinions). In Estonian it’s something else entirely: a distinct vowel with its own sound. It isn’t on an English keyboard, so this page gives you the quickest way to type it on any device, a click-to-copy grid, and the parts other guides skip — like why the same wave means such different things.
If you just need the character, copy õ (or the capital Õ) from the grid below. If you want the shortcuts, or to understand the tilde, the sections after it cover both.
In a hurry?
- Copy it: click õ in the grid below.
- On Windows: hold Alt and type 0245 (capital Õ is 0213).
- On a Mac: press Option + n, then o.
- On a phone: press and hold the o key and choose õ.
- In Word: press Ctrl + Shift + ~ (tilde), then o.
Table of Contents
Copy and paste õ
The tilde-o 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| õ | o with tilde (lower) | U+00F5 | Alt + 0245 | Option + n, o | õ |
| Õ | O with tilde (upper) | U+00D5 | Alt + 0213 | Option + n, Shift + O | Õ |
The tilde isn’t on an English keyboard, so õ takes a shortcut, a code, or a copy. The sections below cover each device, then what the wave actually means.
How to type õ on any device
Type õ on Windows
Turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, and type 0245 on the numeric keypad for õ, or 0213 for the capital Õ. The US-International keyboard also lets you press the tilde key then o to get õ directly.
Type õ on Mac
Press Option + n (this arms the tilde), then press o, and õ appears. For the capital, do Option + n, then Shift + o. The same Option + n also makes ã and ñ.
Type õ on iPhone and Android
Press and hold the o key on the keyboard. A row of accented options pops up; slide onto õ and lift your finger. The same long-press also shows ó and ô, so pick the one with the wave.
Type õ in Microsoft Word
Press Ctrl + Shift + ~ (Ctrl, Shift, and the tilde key), release, then press o for õ. You can also type 00F5 then Alt + X, or use Alt + 0245.
Type õ on Linux
Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 00f5, then Enter. With a Compose key, Compose then ~ then o also makes õ.
Type õ in HTML and CSS
In HTML, õ is õ or the numeric õ (capital Õ is Õ). In CSS, a literal õ in a content value is the escaped code point \00F5.
The tilde means nasal in Portuguese, but a whole vowel in Estonian
The same wave over the o does two completely different jobs depending on the language, and this is the thing no keyboard guide explains. In Portuguese, the tilde marks a nasal vowel — you send part of the sound through your nose, the way the vowels feel in the French bon or the English song. So õ is a nasalised o, heard in põe (puts) and the -ões plurals.
In Estonian, õ isn’t a modified o at all — it’s its own separate vowel, a back unrounded sound with no real English equivalent (somewhere between “uh” and “oo”). Estonian treats õ as a distinct letter of the alphabet, not an o wearing a hat. So a Portuguese speaker reads õ as “a nasal o,” while an Estonian reads it as a specific vowel that has nothing to do with a plain o. Same character, two unrelated meanings.
| Language | What õ is | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| Portuguese | a nasalised o | o sent through the nose |
| Estonian | a distinct vowel | a back “uh/oo” sound |
õ in Portuguese: the -ões plural
If you’re learning Portuguese, õ shows up most in a very common pattern: turning singular words that end in -ão into plurals ending in -ões. Limão (lemon) becomes limões; opinião (opinion) becomes opiniões; coração (heart) becomes corações. The tilde rides along to keep the vowel nasal.
The õ almost always appears in that õe combination, a nasal diphthong, rather than alone. It’s the plural cousin of the ã in the singular -ão. So if you can type ã, you’ll want õ right alongside it — they’re the two nasal vowels that make Portuguese sound the way it does. The nasal a is covered in the [a with tilde](/a-with-tilde/) guide, and the tilde over n in the [n with tilde](/n-with-tilde/) guide.
Where the tilde came from: a medieval shortcut for n
The tilde has one of the neatest origin stories in punctuation, and it explains why it marks nasal sounds today. In medieval manuscripts, scribes copying Latin by hand saved time and precious parchment by dropping an n or m and writing a small wavy line over the previous letter instead. So annum might be written añum, with the wave standing in for the missing n.
That little n-shaped squiggle became the tilde. And because the letters it replaced were nasal consonants (n, m), the mark it left behind came to signal a nasal sound — which is exactly what õ and ã do in Portuguese, and what the tilde over n (ñ) does in Spanish, where ñ literally started as nn. So the wave you type today is a thousand-year-old abbreviation for a hidden n, still quietly doing its old job.
The tilde’s other lives: ~ in code and maths
The tilde has a standalone twin on your keyboard: the ASCII ~ (U+007E), which sits above the Tab key on US layouts. It’s a separate character from the combining tilde on õ, but it’s the same shape put to many uses. In computing, ~ is shorthand for your home directory on Mac and Linux (~/Documents), and in many languages it’s the bitwise NOT operator.
In maths and everyday writing, ~ means approximately (~50 people), and a double tilde ≈ means “approximately equal.” It also shows up in URLs (old-style personal pages like example.com/~name) and in casual text to soften a tone~. So the wave leads a double life: a precise pronunciation mark when it sits over a vowel, and a versatile all-purpose symbol when it stands alone.
õ in code, URLs, and domain names
In a URL, õ is percent-encoded as %C3%B5 (its two UTF-8 bytes), so a page about limões might appear as lim%C3%B5es. In code, the escape is \u00F5 in JavaScript, Java, JSON, and Python.
Domains can include õ through internationalized domain names (IDN) — useful for Portuguese and Estonian sites — converted behind the scenes to an ASCII Punycode form starting xn--. Browsers sometimes show that form as an anti-phishing safeguard. And if õ ever renders as õ or a box, the fix is to serve everything as UTF-8.
Copy-paste HTML codes
Every code for the tilde-o in one place. Click a cell and copy.
| Character | Named entity | Numeric entity | URL (percent) code |
|---|---|---|---|
| õ | õ | õ | %C3%B5 |
| Õ | Õ | Õ | %C3%95 |
In a CSS content value, use \00F5 for õ. For the acute o see [o with acute](/o-with-acute/), for the nasal a the [a with tilde](/a-with-tilde/) guide, and for every accented letter the [letters with accents](/letters-with-accents/) hub.
Troubleshooting
My õ shows as õ or a box
That’s an encoding mismatch: the UTF-8 bytes for õ are being read as an older encoding. Set the file, database, and page charset to UTF-8 and õ displays correctly.
Option + n just types an n on my Mac
Option + n arms the tilde but shows nothing on its own; you have to press o straight after. If it still fails, your layout may not support dead keys; switch to the standard US or ABC layout.
Alt + 0245 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, or copy õ from the grid above.
FAQ
How do I type õ?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 0245. On a Mac, press Option + n then o. On a phone, long-press the o key. In Word, press Ctrl + Shift + ~ then o. Or click õ in the grid above.
What does the tilde on õ mean?
It depends on the language. In Portuguese it marks a nasal vowel, as in limões. In Estonian, õ is a separate vowel of the alphabet with its own sound, not a modified o.
When does Portuguese use õ?
Mostly in the -ões plural ending, turning words like limão into limões and opinião into opiniões. The õ appears in the nasal diphthong õe, the plural cousin of the singular -ão.
Is the tilde on õ the same as the ~ key?
They share a shape but are different characters. The ~ on your keyboard (U+007E) is a standalone symbol used for home directories, “approximately,” and more; the tilde on õ is a combining accent that nasalises the vowel.
How do I write õ in HTML?
Use õ or õ (capital Õ is Õ). In a URL, õ is %C3%B5.
