S with Accent: š and ś, and Why Romanian ș Is Not Turkish ş
Which s with accent you need depends on the language. Czech, Slovak, Croatian and Lithuanian write š, with a caron. Polish writes ś, with an acute. Turkish writes ş, with a cedilla. Romanian writes ș, with a comma below. Tap a tile to copy one. The last two look alike but are separate characters, so never swap them.
How do you type š on a keyboard or phone?
On a Mac, š is Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter s with caron", then š; on Windows it is Alt+0154. Each row below gives the documented method for one device or app; the vendor help pages they come from are linked under the table.
| Device or app | Keys |
|---|---|
| Mac | Fn/Globe+E, then search "latin small letter s with caron", then š How to type accents on a Mac |
| Windows | Alt+0154 How to type accents on Windows |
| Microsoft Word | 0161, then Alt+X How to type accents in Word |
| Google Docs | Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter s with caron" How to type accents in Google Docs |
Sources:Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Windows, Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Google Docs (Google) (opens in a new tab)
- š s with caron · used in 12 languages
- ś s with acute · used in 3 languages
- ş s with cedilla · used in 4 languages
- ș s with comma below · used in 1 language
What are all the s letters with accents?
Every s with an accent mark on AccentPad, lowercase then capitals. Tap one to copy it:
Which language writes which s with accent?
Start from the language, not the mark. Each s with accent belongs to its own set of alphabets, and in each of them the mark alone can turn one word into another. The alphabets below come from the Unicode CLDR data behind AccentPad. The sounds come from Wiktionary's entries for š (opens in a new tab), ś (opens in a new tab), ş (opens in a new tab) and ș (opens in a new tab).
| Letter | Mark | Written in, among others | Sound | Mark on | Mark off |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| š | caron, or háček | Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Slovenian, Latvian, Lithuanian | /ʃ/, the sh of ship | Czech šít, to sew | sít, to sow |
| ś | acute | Polish, Silesian, Lower Sorbian | /ɕ/, a soft sh | Polish koś, mow! | kos, blackbird |
| ş | cedilla | Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Kurdish | /ʃ/ | Turkish şu, that | su, water |
| ș | comma below | Romanian | /ʃ/ | Romanian șa, saddle | sa, his or her |
The word pairs are Wiktionary's entries for šít (opens in a new tab) and sít (opens in a new tab), koś (opens in a new tab) and kos (opens in a new tab), şu (opens in a new tab) and su (opens in a new tab), and șa (opens in a new tab) and sa (opens in a new tab). DOOM, the Romanian Academy's dictionary, uses the same șa and sa pair to show what the comma does.
The caron, the cedilla and the comma below all spell one sound. The s with caron, the s with cedilla and the s with comma below each say sh. Only ś is different, a softer hiss with the tongue raised. So the sound will not tell you which letter to type. The language will.
Is Romanian ș written with a comma or a cedilla?
With a comma. The Romanian Academy's spelling dictionary, DOOM 3 (opens in a new tab), lists ș in the alphabet with a note: comma, not cedilla. It calls the mark virgulița, the little comma, and says it sets ș and ț apart from plain s and t. Per the Academy, the sign differs from the cedilla these letters were written with in the past.
Unicode says the same in its own names list (opens in a new tab). Under U+015F, the s with cedilla, it notes Turkish and Azerbaijani, then adds that U+0219 should be used instead for Romanian. The t gets the same note: U+021B, ț, not the cedilla ţ.
DOOM adds rules a writer can act on:
- In alphabetical order, ș comes right after s, and ț right after t.
- Writing the diacritics is obligatory.
- Public bodies in Romania, notaries included, must use the standard Romanian character coding and the standard Romanian keyboard in electronic documents, under Law 183/2006.
So a Romanian name, address or legal text with ş is not a style choice. It is the older, wrong code point.
Why did Romanian text end up with the Turkish ş?
Because for years the comma form did not exist in the computer. Wiktionary's ș entry (opens in a new tab) says Romanians typed ş, the s with a cedilla, until Unicode 3 and Windows XP became mainstream in the mid-2000s. AccentPad's facts agree on the first half: ş has been in Unicode since version 1.1, ș only since 3.0.
The old one-byte code pages show the trap. In Unicode's own mapping files for ISO 8859-2 (opens in a new tab) and Windows cp1250 (opens in a new tab), byte BA is ş. In ISO 8859-16 (opens in a new tab), the same byte BA is ș. The mapping files for cp1252 (opens in a new tab), cp1254 (opens in a new tab) and ISO 8859-9 (opens in a new tab) fill in the rest.
| Code page | š | ś | ş | ș |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 8859-2 | B9 | B6 | BA | none |
| Windows cp1250 | 9A | 9C | BA | none |
| ISO 8859-16 | A8 | F7 | none | BA |
| ISO 8859-9 | none | none | FE | none |
| Windows cp1254 | 9A | none | FE | none |
| Windows cp1252 | 9A | none | none | none |
Read the BA column across. A file saved in ISO 8859-2 and opened as ISO 8859-16 turns every ş into ș, and back again the other way. No error appears. The cp1252 mapping file gives byte BA as º, the masculine ordinal, so Romanian și saved in ISO 8859-16 and opened as cp1252 reads ºi. If you see ºi in an old Romanian page, the comma s is hiding under the wrong code page.
The last row also explains the keyboard. AccentPad computes Windows Alt codes from cp1252, and cp1252 holds only š among these letters. Hex 9A is 154, so Alt+0154 types š. The other s letters have no Alt code at all.
How do you tell ş from ș when they look the same?
Look at the code point, not the glyph. DOOM itself warns that in some fonts the Romanian comma stayed identical to the cedilla. Fonts such as Times New Roman draw it like a small 9. In those other fonts your eyes cannot settle the question. These values from AccentPad's facts can.
| ş, s with cedilla | ș, s with comma below | |
|---|---|---|
| Code point | U+015F | U+0219 |
| Capital | Ş, U+015E | Ș, U+0218 |
| Breaks down into | s + U+0327, combining cedilla | s + U+0326, combining comma below |
| UTF-8 bytes | C5 9F | C8 99 |
| In Unicode since | 1.1 | 3.0 |
| Named HTML entity | ş | none; use ș |
| Alphabets in CLDR | Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Kurdish | Romanian |
You can check without special software. In a browser console, "ș".codePointAt(0).toString(16) prints 219 for the Romanian letter. In a URL, ș is encoded as %C8%99 and ş as %C5%9F.
The place lists on this page show the mix-up in real data. GeoNames, which feeds AccentPad's names and places, spells the Romanian city Iaşi with the cedilla, while Focșani and Sighișoara carry the comma.
Do search and sorting treat Iaşi and Iași as one word?
Romanian sorting rules treat Iaşi and Iași as one word, while exact matching, Unicode normalization and Turkish rules keep them apart. We tested Iaşi (cedilla), Iași (comma) and Iasi (no mark) on 2026-10-10 with Node.js v26.0.0, ICU 78.3 and CLDR 48 data. This is our own measurement, not a quoted rule.
| Check | Iaşi and Iași | Iasi and Iași |
|---|---|---|
| Exact string comparison | different | different |
| Unicode normalization, NFC or NFKC | different | different |
| Romanian sorting rules | same | different |
| Turkish sorting rules | different | same, when accents are ignored |
| English rules, accents ignored | same | same |
| English rules, accents counted | different | different |
The Romanian line has a source. CLDR's Romanian collation rules (opens in a new tab) write &S<ş=ș: both forms sort as one letter, after every plain s. The CLDR Turkish chart (opens in a new tab) makes ş its own letter after s. In our test, Turkish rules left ș as a plain s with a mark.
Normalization never merges the pair, because NFC and NFKC keep the comma and the cedilla as different marks. So an exact-match lookup, a database key or a duplicate check that compares exact text will treat Iaşi and Iași as two cities.
How do you replace ş with ș in Romanian text safely?
Run a find and replace on the Romanian text only, and match by code point rather than by eye. That way the fix does not depend on how a font draws the mark below the s or the t.
| Find | Replace with |
|---|---|
| ş, U+015F | ș, U+0219 |
| Ş, U+015E | Ș, U+0218 |
| ţ, U+0163 | ț, U+021B |
| Ţ, U+0162 | Ț, U+021A |
Never run it on Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen or Kurdish. For those languages ş is correct, and the swap would break every word that has it. A mixed file, such as a list of cities in Romania and Türkiye, needs the language of each line first.
Then search the result for U+015F and U+0163. A Romanian text should have none left, and every s and t with a mark below should now match DOOM.
Which names and places are spelled with š, ś, ş or ș?
Given names come from Wikidata, the most widely covered first by the number of Wikipedia editions about them, and places come from the GeoNames list of cities, largest population first, kept only where an official language of the country writes the letter.
- š
- Given names:
- Dušan
- Miloš
- Uroš
- Saša
- Šarūnas
- Arnošt
- Nebojša
- František
- Luboš
- Duško
- Lukáš
- Ljubiša
Places:- Niš (Serbia)
- Košice (Slovakia)
- Šiauliai (Lithuania)
- Prešov (Slovakia)
- Kruševac (Serbia)
- Nikšić (Montenegro)
- Šabac (Serbia)
- Šilainiai (Lithuania)
- ś
Given names: Świecław, Świętosław, Świętopełk
Places:- Ruda Śląska (Poland)
- Śródmieście (Poland)
- Śródmieście (Poland)
- Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski (Poland)
- Siemianowice Śląskie (Poland)
- Przemyśl (Poland)
- Zamość (Poland)
- Świdnica (Poland)
- ş
- Given names:
- Barış
- Ayşe
- Gülşen
- Şenol
- Şerif
- Şevket
- Aşkın
- Fatoş
- Taşkın
- Şerafettin
- Şükrü
- Ayşegül
Places:- Eskişehir (Türkiye)
- Muratpaşa (Türkiye)
- Şanlıurfa (Türkiye)
- Kahramanmaraş (Türkiye)
- Iaşi (Romania)
- Uşak (Türkiye)
- Ataşehir (Türkiye)
- Karşıyaka (Türkiye)
Iaşi is spelled with ş in GeoNames. It is listed because Romanian counts ş only among its auxiliary letters, outside its alphabet; the alphabet has ș.
- ș
Given names: Dragoș, Ștefan, Ștefania
Places:- Focșani (Romania)
- Sighișoara (Romania)
- Făgăraș (Romania)
- Roșiorii de Vede (Romania)
- Zărnești (Romania)
- Fetești-Gară (Romania)
- Strășeni (Moldova)
Which languages use š, ś, ş or ș?
Between them, š, ś, ş and ș are part of the standard alphabet of 19 languages in the Unicode CLDR. Each letter's languages:
- š
- 12 languages:
- Bosnian
- Croatian
- Czech
- Estonian
- Finnish
- Latvian
- Lithuanian
- Lower Sorbian
- Northern Sotho
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Upper Sorbian
- ś
- 3 languages: Lower Sorbian, Polish, Silesian
- ş
- 4 languages: Azerbaijani, Kurdish, Turkish, Turkmen
- ș
- 1 language: Romanian
How to type s with accent, step by step
Step 1: Mac: search the Character Viewer by name
Press Fn/Globe+E to open the Character Viewer, then search for the letter's Unicode name: latin small letter s with caron for š, with acute for ś, with cedilla for ş, or with comma below for ș. Click the result to insert it.
Step 2: Windows: Alt+0154 for š, the Symbols tab for the others
With Num Lock on, hold Alt and type 0154 on the number pad for š, or 0138 for Š. For ś, ş and ș there is no Alt code: press Win+. to open the emoji panel, choose Symbols and click the letter.
Step 3: Microsoft Word: type the hex code, then Alt+X
Type 0161 and press Alt+X for š. The codes 015b, 015f and 0219 give ś, ş and ș. Check the last digits before you press Alt+X, because 015f and 0219 are the pair that is easy to mix up.
Step 4: Google Docs: search Special characters
Open Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, and search for latin small letter s with comma below. Replace comma below with caron, acute or cedilla to find the other letters.
Step 5: Phone or tablet: copy from this page
Tap a tile at the top of this page to copy the letter, then paste it. Check that the Romanian tile is ș and the Turkish tile is ş before you paste.
Which letters are related to s with accent?
These letter pages share an accent mark or a language with š ś ş ș, the most shared languages first.
Whole alphabets with every letter in order, including š, ś, ș and ş:
- Croatian alphabet
- Czech alphabet
- Latvian alphabet
- Lithuanian alphabet
- Polish alphabet
- Romanian alphabet
- Slovak alphabet
- Turkish alphabet
Every letter with the same mark, on one page, for ś, š and ş: Accent aigu, Caron, Cedilla.
What is the Unicode code for š?
š is U+0161, LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CARON, added in Unicode 1.1 in 1993. In UTF-8 it is stored as the bytes C5 A1, and the table gives every escape a developer needs.
| Code point | U+0161 |
|---|---|
| Name | LATIN SMALL LETTER S WITH CARON |
| Added in | Unicode 1.1 (1993) |
| UTF-8 bytes | C5 A1 |
| HTML | š š š |
| CSS | \0161 |
| JavaScript | \u0161 |
| Python | \u0161 |
| URL | %C5%A1 |
If a page shows Å¡ instead of š, its UTF-8 bytes are being read as Windows-1252. Serve the page as UTF-8 (<meta charset="utf-8">) to fix it.
What are the Alt codes for s with accent?
Hold Alt and type the digits on the number pad with Num Lock on. The top row of digits does not work, and laptops without a number pad need the methods above.
| Letter | Alt code |
|---|---|
| š | Alt+0154 |
| Š | Alt+0138 |
ś ş ș Ś Ş Ș have no Alt code: Windows cannot type them that way.
Need a letter other than š?
Frequently asked questions about s with accent
What is the s with a v on top called?
It is š, an s with a caron. English borrowed the word háček from Czech, Wiktionary notes, so s with hacek and s with caron name one letter, U+0161, with Š as its capital. Unicode's names list gives hacek and V above as other names for the combining caron. In Slovak and Lithuanian it spells the sh sound.
Is ş a Romanian letter?
No. Romanian writes ș, with a comma below, and the Romanian Academy's spelling dictionary, DOOM, says the mark is a comma, not a cedilla. Unicode's names list adds that U+0219 should be used for Romanian instead of ş. The cedilla form is Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Kurdish.
What is the Alt code for š?
Alt+0154 types š and Alt+0138 types Š, on the number pad with Num Lock on. Those codes exist because Windows-1252 holds both letters. It holds no ś, ş or ș, so they have no Alt code: press Win+. and pick them from the Symbols tab instead.
Do ś and š sound the same?
No. Wiktionary gives š as /ʃ/, the sh of English ship, in Slovak, Lithuanian and Serbo-Croatian. It gives ś as /ɕ/, a softer sound made with the tongue raised toward the palate, in Lower Sorbian and Serbo-Croatian, and Polish ś is that same soft s.
Why does ș look exactly like ş in my document?
The font draws them alike. DOOM notes that fonts such as Times New Roman draw the Romanian comma like a small 9, while in other fonts the mark stayed identical to the cedilla. The characters still differ: check the code point, U+0219 for ș and U+015F for ş, or switch fonts.