What ᶩ means
It marks a brief retroflex-lateral gesture.
A retroflex lateral is an l-like sound made with the tongue tip curled back and air passing along its sides. In some systems, ᶩ marks that quality as a brief release after a consonant; in others, it gives a neighboring consonant a short secondary or transitional quality. The transcription key tells you which reading applies.
A 2004 Unicode proposal cites a phonology example from 1995; the example may show ᶪ, the palatal-hook counterpart, by typographic mistake. A palatal sound is made with the tongue raised toward the roof of the mouth. This documents an encoding trail, not the origin of the sound.
Why is ᶩ different from ɭ?
ᶩ modifies a sound; ɭ is a full IPA letter.
Use ɭ when a retroflex lateral is the main segment. ᶩ marks its brief release or secondary quality only where a transcription system gives it that role. The smaller raised form does not have one universal reading.
How do I type ᶩ?
Use a Unicode input method.
For layouts without a dedicated key, use a Unicode input method. As of 2026, these desktop routes are documented: in Word, type 1DA9 then press AltX; on macOS, switch to Unicode Hex Input, hold Option and type 1DA9; in GTK apps on Linux, press CtrlShiftu, type 1DA9, then Space or Enter.
Specialist phonetic notation; it signals a transcription system that assigns ᶩ a technical phonetic value.
Do not read it as a decorative small ɭ; placement changes its role.
Part of collections
Who writes ᶩ
Loading…
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsMarks a retroflex-lateral release or a brief transition.
Don't confuse it with
2
Questions people ask
2Is ᶩ just a tiny superscript?
No. It is its own encoded character, not formatting applied to another letter. Its appearance depends on whether the font supports it.
Can I use ᶩ in ordinary spelling?
Usually not. It belongs in phonetic transcription unless a particular orthography assigns it a value.
More like this
10
ɭLatin Small Letter L With Retroflex Hook
lLatin Small Letter L
ᶧModifier Letter Small Capital I With Stroke
ᶨModifier Letter Small J With Crossed-Tail
ᶪModifier Letter Small L With Palatal Hook
ALatin Capital Letter A
BLatin Capital Letter B
CLatin Capital Letter C
DLatin Capital Letter D
ELatin Capital Letter EHow to type or find ᶩ
- Search it as
- IPA · ᶩ · ɭ · retroflex lateral · retroflex l · lateral release · superscript l · phonetic modifier
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
ᶩ\1DA9Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.