Greek gamma modifier

In Julia’s REPL, type \^gamma and press Tab.

Julia documents \^gamma as its completion for ᵞ as of 2026. It inserts a gamma modifier used in UPA; the raised position is part of the encoded character, not formatting applied to a full-size Greek gamma.

Font coverage varies: a missing glyph may be blank or replaced with a fallback, so a broken display can hide the distinction.

What does ᵞ mean?

It is the Greek-gamma modifier in Uralic phonetic writing.

The Uralic Phonetic Alphabet uses raised letters for sounds said very briefly, such as a short vowel or a quick transition between sounds. The surrounding transcription determines which sound ᵞ signals; on its own, it is not a complete pronunciation key.

Where did ᵞ come from?

It belongs to the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet’s transcription tradition.

A Unicode proposal from 2002, a document arguing for encoding characters, traces this exact Greek-based form to examples by Lagercrantz (1939), Karjalainen (1948), and Rédei (1988); it also cites UPA works from 1901 and 1902. UPA was designed to let scholars write speech sounds, sound patterns, and word histories in ordinary text.

The same account describes early UPA use as centered in Finland, Hungary, Estonia, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Russia; by 2002 it was also known and used worldwide.