Icelandic accented vowels and special letters

Spelling and status

The University of Iceland transcription reference distinguishes their vowel values. The collection also includes ð, þ, æ and ö, which are useful Icelandic letters but are not all accented forms of the English alphabet. This page avoids reducing those vowel contrasts to a single rule about length. [42], [9]

Distinctions to preserve

Eth ð is not Croatian đ, and thorn þ is not a p with an added mark. Neither eth nor thorn has a canonical base-plus-mark decomposition. Preserve ý as well as í: the two remain different spellings even where a pronunciation guide discusses related sounds. [42], [9], [1], [2]

Typing and text forms

Copying is exact; preview circles are excluded. Compare normalization forms.

Word for Windows

Select a hex code, then Alt+X; repeat for each scalar.

Mac and mobile

Hold a letter for supported variants; use Character Viewer on Mac or a language keyboard on mobile.

HTML

Use UTF-8 text or the numeric references in Details, in order.

Full typing instructions ·HTML, CSS and JavaScript entry ·Verified Alt codes.

Sources and method

Usage statements link to the authority that supports their scope. Character names, categories, combining classes and normalization results come from the pinned Unicode data. A canonical decomposition does not establish language membership or spelling frequency.

Source access date: 2026-09-14.

• [42] University of Iceland: phonetic transcription. Icelandic accented vowel letters and their distinct values; accent is not simply a stress instruction.
• [9] CLDR 48.2 locale exemplars. Supplementary inventory checks against direct main and auxiliary exemplar sets. Exemplars do not establish full spelling or pronunciation rules.
• [1] Unicode Character Database 17.0.0.
• [2] Unicode normalization, UAX #15.
• [10] Microsoft: Unicode character entry in Word.
• [11] Apple: enter characters with accent marks.
• [12] Google: use Gboard.
• [13] Unicode: fonts and keyboards FAQ.
• [14] HTML numeric character references.

Read the editorial method and inspect the underlying datasets.