What ̩ means
It marks a consonant that carries a syllable without a vowel.
In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), n̩ shows that n itself carries the syllable instead of a vowel. The mark changes syllable structure, not stress or voicing.
The IPA began as a practical tool for teaching pronunciation and later served dictionaries, language documentation and speech analysis. Its first published chart appeared in 1888; a 1926 chart labels this sign “syllabic consonant.”
Does this mark always mean syllabic?
No; IPA is the clearest reading, but context matters.
Yoruba writing and German dialectology (the study of regional speech) are also contexts for under-stroke marks. In 2005, proposed Yoruba under-marks ranged from a dot or short line to a connected stroke or teardrop, so identify the notation before decoding it.
The line above, ◌̍, is the IPA positional counterpart: it carries the same syllabic reading and can avoid a clash with a descending letter or another mark below. The final position is set by the font and shaping software, so a mark can shift to avoid a collision.
Specialist phonetic notation, used in pronunciation guides, language teaching, dictionaries, fieldwork and speech analysis.
In IPA, read it as syllabic, not as stress or emphasis.
Don't confuse it with
1Combination ideas
3Questions people ask
1Why does this mark disappear when typed alone?
It combines with a base letter, so alone it has nothing to sit under. Put it after the letter; if its position still looks wrong, try a font with IPA coverage.
How to type ̩
̩\0329Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.