What ͢ means
It marks one consonant moving from one articulation toward another.
In a phonetic transcription, square brackets enclose sound symbols. [s͢θ] shows one consonant starting as [s] and moving toward [θ], the voiceless sound made with the tongue between the teeth; it is not two consonants in a row.
The Extended IPA (extIPA) adds symbols for transcribing disordered speech. These symbols were already under development in 1989; publication of the 1994 chart marked their adoption for this work.
How do I type the bridge between sounds?
Insert it between the two sound symbols.
Use the order sound symbol–mark–sound symbol, as in [s͢θ]. The mark sits between its two sound symbols, so it cannot start or end that sequence.
Bridging depends on font support. The mark should sit at the letters’ boundary, but differences in width, descenders, or nearby marks can leave it looking off center.
It signals specialist phonetic transcription, where the bridge marks movement within one consonant.
Without two sound symbols to join, it has no clear reading as an arrow.
Don't confuse it with
2Combination ideas
1Questions people ask
2Can ͢ stand alone as an arrow?
No. It is a combining phonetic mark that joins two sound symbols; by itself, it does not show a path through space.
Why does the bridge look off center?
Font support varies. If the base letters differ in width or have descenders or nearby marks, a font that cannot position bridges precisely may shift it visually.
How to type ͢
͢\0362Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.