U+05A5 "֥" Hebrew Accent Merkha Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
֥
U+05A5 "֥" Hebrew Accent Merkha is a cantillation mark used in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible to indicate a specific musical or intonational pattern for chanting. This accent is most commonly associated with the ta'am or trope system for the books of Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, where it functions as a conjunctive accent, meaning it binds the accented word to the following word without a pause. The Merkha appears as a small, diagonal line placed above or beneath the accented syllable of a word and serves to guide the reader in the proper rhythmic and melodic recitation of the sacred text according to established Jewish liturgical tradition.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+05A5 |
| Version Added | 2.0 |
| Name | Hebrew Accent Merkha |
| Block | Hebrew |
| General Category | Nonspacing Mark |
| Canonical Combining Class | Below |
| Bidirectional Class | Nonspacing Mark |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ֥ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ֥ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xD6 0xA5 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x05A5 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x000005A5 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u05a5 |