U+1D4A "ᵊ" Modifier Letter Small Schwa Unicode Character

Unicode Version 17.0

U+1D4A "ᵊ" Modifier Letter Small Schwa is a typographic symbol that represents a reduced, lowered, or superscript version of the schwa vowel sound, commonly used in linguistic transcription systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet to denote a mid central vowel that is unstressed or barely articulated. This modifier letter is not a standalone vowel but serves to modify or refine the pronunciation of a preceding or following character, often indicating that the schwa is produced as a very short, fleeting sound or as part of a diphthong. It appears in scholarly works, language documentation, and phonetic guides to capture subtle phonetic distinctions that a full-sized schwa might not convey, making it a precise tool for describing certain unstressed syllables in languages like English, German, or other world languages.

General Properties

Code Point U+1D4A
Version Added 4.0
Name Modifier Letter Small Schwa
Block Phonetic Extensions
General Category Modifier Letter
Canonical Combining Class Not Reordered
Bidirectional Class Left To Right
Decomposition Type Super
Decomposition Mapping "ə" U+0259 Latin Small Letter Schwa

Encodings

HTML Decimal Encoding ᵊ
HTML Hex Encoding ᵊ
UTF-8 Encoding 0xE1 0xB5 0x8A
UTF-16 Encoding 0x1D4A
UTF-32 Encoding 0x00001D4A
C/C++/Java Escape \u1d4a

Unicode Properties

NFC Quick Check Yes
NFD Quick Check Yes
Numeric Type None
Numeric Value NaN
Line Break Alphabetic
Lowercase Yes
Other Lowercase Yes
Case Ignorable Yes
Cased Yes
Changes When NFKC Casefolded Yes
NFKC Casefold "ə" U+0259 Latin Small Letter Schwa
NFKC Simple Casefold "ə" U+0259 Latin Small Letter Schwa
Script Latin
Script Extensions Latin
Indic Syllabic Category Other
ID Start Yes
XID Start Yes
ID Continue Yes
XID Continue Yes
Diacritic Yes
Alphabetic Yes
Vertical Orientation Rotated
Grapheme Base Yes
Grapheme Cluster Break Other
Word Break Alphabetic letter
Sentence Break Lower