Japanese dakuten and handakuten

Spelling and status

Combining dakuten is U+3099 and combining handakuten is U+309A. They follow the kana in stored text. The spacing signs U+309B and U+309C are separate characters, useful when showing the signs themselves. The table includes encoded voiced kana, including less common forms, rather than presenting every item as equally frequent modern vocabulary. [7]

Distinctions to preserve

ば and は followed by U+3099 are canonically equivalent. は followed by the spacing sign ゛ is a different sequence. Kana has no uppercase/lowercase pairing; hiragana and katakana are different sets. Small kana is not a lowercase alphabet. Halfwidth forms also require care because compatibility normalization changes their representation. [7], [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.

• [7] Unicode 17: Hiragana and Katakana. Section 18.4: voiced and semivoiced marks, precomposed kana and spacing alternatives.
• [1] Unicode Character Database 17.0.0.
• [2] Unicode normalization, UAX #15.
• [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.
• [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.