What ˇ means
It marks tone or pronunciation, not feeling. In language notation the wedge can mark a falling-rising tone, including Mandarin third tone.
Keep this spacing mark separate: it takes its own space and will not attach to a letter. For an accented letter, type the precomposed letter or the combining caron instead.
Technical and language-facing; unusual in casual messages unless you are showing notation or text entry.
Do not assume ˇ will attach to the next letter.
Don't confuse it with
2Questions people ask
1Why does ˇ show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type ˇ
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 02C7, then Alt+X to get ˇ.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “caron”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 02c7, then Enter or Space.
HTML
ˇCSS
\02C7Linux Compose
With Compose enabled, press Compose, less-than, then Space; local Compose tables can differ.
Unicode entry
Use your operating system’s Unicode input method for the standalone character.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
ˇ
HTML hex
ˇ
CSS content
content: "\02C7";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%CB%87
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
2
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.