Copy æ or Æ, the ash symbol, or type it: Alt+145 for the small letter, Alt+146 for the capital.
Ae Symbol
æLatin small letter aeU+00E6Ready to copy
21 ae characters and look-alikes. Tap any value to copy it.
21 ae characters and look-alikes. A character and its name both copy the character. A code copies the code.
Character
Name
Code point
Alt code
Option keys
HTML
LaTeX
U+00E6. The small letter, called ash. It sits at 145 in code page 437 and at 230 in code page 1252, so Alt+145 and Alt+0230 both type it; Option+' does on the U.S. layout.
U+00C6. The capital. Alt+146, or Alt+0198 with the zero; Option+Shift+' on the U.S. layout; Æ in HTML and \AE in LaTeX.
U+01E3. The small ash under a macron, the bar above. Unicode's note: Old Norse, Old English. No Alt code table holds it.
U+01FD. The small ash under an acute accent. Neither Alt code table holds it, and it has no HTML name.
U+1D01. Æ drawn no taller than an x: a small capital ash, kept for phonetic notation since version 4.0 (2003).
Two plain letters, a and e, each on the keyboard. Where the ligature cannot be typed, this pair is often written in its place.
U+01E2. The capital ash under a macron. It pairs with ǣ, U+01E3.
U+01FC. The capital ash under an acute accent. It pairs with ǽ, U+01FD.
U+1D02. The small ash turned upside down. Unicode notes the glyph may also be drawn sideways.
U+1D2D. A capital ash shrunk and lifted above the line, a modifier in phonetic notation.
U+1D46. The turned ash ᴂ, shrunk and lifted above the line for phonetic notes.
U+3150. A Korean vowel letter that Unicode names ae. It is one letter of the Hangul alphabet, and no ligature of a and e.
U+0E41. A Thai vowel sign; sara ae is its name in Unicode.
U+06D5. A letter of the Arabic script that Unicode names ae. Unicode's note: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz.
U+04D5. Looks identical, but it is a Cyrillic letter: Ossetian is written with it. A search for the Latin ash will not find it.
U+04D4. Capital of the Ossetian ӕ, U+04D5. A twin of Æ by sight, stored apart from it.
U+16AB. The rune the Old English letter stood in for. The letter took over its name, æsc, which means ash tree.
U+00E4. An a under two dots. Swedish writes it where Old Swedish wrote the ash. Alt+132 types it.
U+A79B. An ae made for Volapük, a constructed language. It came with Unicode 7.0 (2014); a device with no font for it draws an empty box.
U+A79A. The capital of ꞛ. Unicode notes its use in the English Phonotypic Alphabet too.
U+10783. A superscript æ for phonetic writing, the newest row here: it came with Unicode 14.0 (2021).
The ae symbol is æ, a ligature of a and e whose English name is ash. Its Alt code is 145, or 146 for the capital Æ, and Option+' is the keyboard shortcut on the U.S. layout.
Read the full guide
Typing æ and Æ
On a number pad, Alt+145 types æ and Alt+146 types Æ; the four-digit codes are Alt+0230 and Alt+0198. Option+' types the small letter on the U.S. layout, and Shift makes it the capital. With a Compose key it is Compose, a, e. A web page can write the character æ, and LaTeX \ae.
A ligature that became a letter
The Latin ae began as two letters written as one, for a Latin diphthong. Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese count it as a letter of the alphabet, and Old English wrote it too. Phonetic writing uses the small æ for the vowel of cat.
ASCII has no æ. Its two Alt codes come from later tables, code page 437 and code page 1252.
Where the ligature cannot be typed, ae is often written in its place.
Ӕ, an Ossetian letter, looks identical but is Cyrillic: U+04D4.
Questions and answers
What is the æ symbol called?
Ash. The name comes from æsc, the Old English name of the letter, which means ash tree. In Unicode it is Latin small letter ae, and an earlier name there was Latin small ligature ae.
How do I make the ae symbol on a keyboard?
Hold Alt and type 145 on the number pad for æ, or 146 for Æ. On the U.S. layout, Option+' types it, with Shift for the capital. No key of that layout carries the ash by itself.
What is the Alt code for the capital Æ?
Alt+146, or Alt+0198 with the leading zero. The first is the place of the character in code page 437, the second its place in code page 1252. The small æ is Alt+145 or Alt+0230.
Is æ a letter or a ligature?
Both. It began as a ligature, a and e written as one character. Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Faroese treat it as a letter of its own, and Swedish replaced it with ä.
Can I copy and paste æ instead of typing it?
Yes. A copied æ is ordinary text, the single character U+00E6, and it can be pasted wherever Unicode text goes. The capital Æ is U+00C6.
All 21 ae characters and look-alikes
Start here 6
aea and e, as two lettersTwo plain letters, a and e, each on the keyboard. Where the ligature cannot be typed, this pair is often written in its place.
ÆLatin capital letter aeU+00C6. The capital. Alt+146, or Alt+0198 with the zero; Option+Shift+' on the U.S. layout; Æ in HTML and \AE in LaTeX.
ᴁLatin letter small capital aeU+1D01. Æ drawn no taller than an x: a small capital ash, kept for phonetic notation since version 4.0 (2003).
æLatin small letter aeU+00E6. The small letter, called ash. It sits at 145 in code page 437 and at 230 in code page 1252, so Alt+145 and Alt+0230 both type it; Option+' does on the U.S. layout.
ǽLatin small letter ae with acuteU+01FD. The small ash under an acute accent. Neither Alt code table holds it, and it has no HTML name.
ǣLatin small letter ae with macronU+01E3. The small ash under a macron, the bar above. Unicode's note: Old Norse, Old English. No Alt code table holds it.
Show all 21 ae characters and look-alikes (15 more)
The letter æ 2
ǼLatin capital letter ae with acuteU+01FC. The capital ash under an acute accent. It pairs with ǽ, U+01FD.
ǢLatin capital letter ae with macronU+01E2. The capital ash under a macron. It pairs with ǣ, U+01E3.
Phonetic forms 3
ᴂLatin small letter turned aeU+1D02. The small ash turned upside down. Unicode notes the glyph may also be drawn sideways.
ᴭModifier letter capital aeU+1D2D. A capital ash shrunk and lifted above the line, a modifier in phonetic notation.
ᵆModifier letter small turned aeU+1D46. The turned ash ᴂ, shrunk and lifted above the line for phonetic notes.
Named ae in other scripts 3
ەArabic letter aeU+06D5. A letter of the Arabic script that Unicode names ae. Unicode's note: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz.
ㅐHangul letter aeU+3150. A Korean vowel letter that Unicode names ae. It is one letter of the Hangul alphabet, and no ligature of a and e.
แThai character sara aeU+0E41. A Thai vowel sign; sara ae is its name in Unicode.
Not the Latin æ 4
ӔCyrillic capital ligature a ieU+04D4. Capital of the Ossetian ӕ, U+04D5. A twin of Æ by sight, stored apart from it.
ӕCyrillic small ligature a ieU+04D5. Looks identical, but it is a Cyrillic letter: Ossetian is written with it. A search for the Latin ash will not find it.
äLatin small letter a with diaeresisU+00E4. An a under two dots. Swedish writes it where Old Swedish wrote the ash. Alt+132 types it.
ᚫRunic letter aescU+16AB. The rune the Old English letter stood in for. The letter took over its name, æsc, which means ash tree.
May be an empty box 3
ꞚLatin capital letter volapuk aeU+A79A. The capital of ꞛ. Unicode notes its use in the English Phonotypic Alphabet too.
ꞛLatin small letter volapuk aeU+A79B. An ae made for Volapük, a constructed language. It came with Unicode 7.0 (2014); a device with no font for it draws an empty box.
𐞃Modifier letter small aeU+10783. A superscript æ for phonetic writing, the newest row here: it came with Unicode 14.0 (2021).