How to Type E with Accent Marks (È É Ê Ë) on Any Keyboard

The letter E is the most frequently accented vowel in the Latin alphabet. From the sharp é that defines French pronunciation, to the grave è of Italian, to the soft ë of Dutch and Albanian — each accented version of E carries its own sound, meaning, and language context. This guide covers every way to type every accented E on any device and platform.

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The Complete List of E with Accent Marks

Before diving into methods, here is every accented version of the letter E you might need:

Symbol	Name	Unicode	Languages
È / è	E with grave	U+00C8 / U+00E8	French, Italian, Vietnamese
É / é	E with acute	U+00C9 / U+00E9	French, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Slovak, Irish
Ê / ê	E with circumflex	U+00CA / U+00EA	French, Portuguese, Romanian, Welsh
Ë / ë	E with umlaut / diaeresis	U+00CB / U+00EB	French, Dutch, Albanian, Afrikaans
Ē / ē	E with macron	U+0112 / U+0113	Latvian, Lithuanian, Māori, academic transliteration
Ĕ / ĕ	E with breve	U+0114 / U+0115	Romanian, academic transliteration
Ę / ę	E with ogonek	U+0118 / U+0119	Polish, Lithuanian
Ě / ě	E with caron	U+011A / U+011B	Czech, Slovak
Ė / ė	E with dot above	U+0116 / U+0117	Lithuanian

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What Each Accented E Sounds Like

Understanding the pronunciation helps you use the right variant for the right language:

Symbol	Pronunciation	Example Word	Meaning
é	Sharp, closed “ay” sound	café (French/English)	coffee
è	Open, relaxed “eh” sound	è (Italian)	is
ê	Elongated, rounded “eh”	fête (French)	celebration / party
ë	Two separate vowel sounds, or plain “e”	Noël (French)	Christmas
ē	Long flat “ee” sound	ēdere (Latin)	to eat
ě	Soft “ye” sound	šest → šestě (Czech)	six
ę	Nasalized “en” sound	będę (Polish)	I will be

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How to Type E with an Accent on Windows

Alt Codes (Numpad)

Make sure Num Lock is on, hold Alt, type the code on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.

Lowercase accented E

Character	Name	Alt Code
è	E with grave	Alt + 138
é	E with acute	Alt + 130
ê	E with circumflex	Alt + 136
ë	E with umlaut	Alt + 137
ē	E with macron	Alt + 0275
ĕ	E with breve	Alt + 0277
ę	E with ogonek	Alt + 0281
ě	E with caron	Alt + 0283
ė	E with dot above	Alt + 0279

Uppercase accented E

Character	Name	Alt Code
È	E with grave	Alt + 0200
É	E with acute	Alt + 0201
Ê	E with circumflex	Alt + 0202
Ë	E with umlaut	Alt + 0203
Ē	E with macron	Alt + 0274
Ĕ	E with breve	Alt + 0276
Ę	E with ogonek	Alt + 0280
Ě	E with caron	Alt + 0282
Ė	E with dot above	Alt + 0278

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Unicode Input (Microsoft Word)

Type the Unicode code point then press Alt + X to convert:

Character	Type This	Then Press
è	00E8	Alt + X
é	00E9	Alt + X
ê	00EA	Alt + X
ë	00EB	Alt + X
ē	0113	Alt + X
ĕ	0115	Alt + X
ę	0119	Alt + X
ě	011B	Alt + X
ė	0117	Alt + X

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Character Map

1. Open Start and search “Character Map”
2. Search for “latin small letter e” or the specific accent name (e.g., “e with acute”)
3. Select your character
4. Click Select, then Copy
5. Paste into your document

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Add a Language Keyboard

For frequent use, adding the keyboard layout of the language you’re writing in is the most efficient long-term solution:

1. Go to Settings > Time & Language > Language & Region
2. Click Add a language
3. Choose French, Spanish, Czech, Polish, or whichever language you need
4. Switch layouts using Windows key + Space

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How to Type E with an Accent on Mac

Press and Hold (Easiest Method)

Simply press and hold the E key on your Mac keyboard and a popup will appear with all available accented variants. Slide to the one you want or press the corresponding number key.

Holding E shows: è é ê ë ē

This works in every macOS app with no setup required — it is the fastest method for casual use.

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Option Key Shortcuts

Press the Option key combination first, release, then type E:

Character	Shortcut
è (grave)	Option + ` then E
é (acute)	Option + E then E
ê (circumflex)	Option + I then E
ë (umlaut)	Option + U then E
ẽ (tilde)	Option + N then E

Note: Option + E followed by E is a dead-key sequence — the first Option + E plants a floating acute accent, and pressing E completes the character. This same pattern works for all vowels: Option + E then A gives á, Option + E then I gives í, and so on.

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Character Viewer

1. Press Control + Command + Space
2. Search for “e with” followed by the accent name (e.g., “e with circumflex”)
3. Double-click to insert

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Unicode Hex Input

1. Enable Unicode Hex Input under System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources
2. Hold Option and type the Unicode code point:
   • 00E8 → è
   • 00E9 → é
   • 00EA → ê
   • 00EB → ë
   • 0113 → ē
   • 0119 → ę
   • 011B → ě

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How to Type E with an Accent on iPhone and iPad

Press and Hold (Built-In — Easiest)

iOS supports accent popups natively with no setup required. Press and hold the E key and a row of accented variants slides up above the keyboard:

è é ê ë ē

Slide your finger to the character you want and release. Works in every iOS app instantly.

Uppercase Variants

Tap Shift first to enable caps, then press and hold E to access uppercase accented E variants in the same popup: È É Ê Ë Ē

Switch Keyboard Language

For full access to all accented E variants used in a specific language:

1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards
2. Tap Add New Keyboard
3. Choose your target language (French, Spanish, Czech, Polish, etc.)
4. Switch keyboards while typing using the globe icon

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How to Type E with an Accent on Android

Press and Hold

On most Android keyboards including Gboard, press and hold the E key to bring up a popup of accented variants:

è é ê ë ē

Slide to your choice and release. This works on the default keyboard with no setup needed.

Add a Language in Gboard

1. Open Gboard Settings
2. Tap Languages
3. Tap Add Keyboard
4. Select your target language
5. Switch languages using the globe icon while typing

Personal Dictionary Shortcut

For less common variants like ę, ě, or ė that may not appear in the press-and-hold popup:

1. Go to Gboard Settings > Dictionary > Personal Dictionary
2. Add the character (e.g., ę) with a shortcut like eog
3. Gboard will suggest it whenever you type that shortcut

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How to Type E with an Accent in Microsoft Word

Built-In Keyboard Shortcuts (Word Only)

Word has dedicated shortcuts for accented E that work regardless of your keyboard layout:

Character	Word Shortcut
é (acute)	Ctrl + ‘ then E
è (grave)	Ctrl + ` then E
ê (circumflex)	Ctrl + Shift + ^ then E
ë (umlaut)	Ctrl + Shift + : then E
ę (ogonek)	Ctrl + Shift + & then E

For uppercase versions, hold Shift when typing the final E:

• Ctrl + ‘ then Shift + E → É
• Ctrl + ` then Shift + E → È
• Ctrl + Shift + ^ then Shift + E → Ê
• Ctrl + Shift + : then Shift + E → Ë

Alt + X Method

Type the Unicode code point followed by Alt + X:

• 00E8 + Alt + X → è
• 00E9 + Alt + X → é
• 00EA + Alt + X → ê
• 00EB + Alt + X → ë

Insert > Symbol

1. Go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols
2. Set Subset to Latin Extended-A or Latin-1 Supplement
3. Find and click your accented E variant
4. Click Insert

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How to Type E with an Accent in Google Docs

Insert > Special Characters

1. Go to Insert > Special Characters
2. Search for “e with grave”, “e with acute”, or whichever variant you need
3. Click the character to insert it

Substitutions

1. Go to Tools > Preferences > Substitutions
2. Set up shortcuts for the characters you use most, for example:
   • Replace e` with è
   • Replace e' with é
   • Replace e^ with ê
   • Replace e: with ë
3. Click OK

Copy and Paste

Copy any character you need directly from the table at the top of this article and paste it into your Google Doc.

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Accented E in HTML and CSS

For web developers, here are the HTML entities and Unicode values for every accented E:

Lowercase

Character	Named Entity	Hex Entity	Decimal Entity
è	è	è	è
é	é	é	é
ê	ê	ê	ê
ë	ë	ë	ë
ē	—	ē	ē
ĕ	—	ĕ	ĕ
ę	—	ę	ę
ě	—	ě	ě
ė	—	ė	ė

Uppercase

Character	Named Entity	Hex Entity	Decimal Entity
È	È	È	È
É	É	É	É
Ê	Ê	Ê	Ê
Ë	Ë	Ë	Ë
Ē	—	Ē	Ē
Ĕ	—	Ĕ	Ĕ
Ę	—	Ę	Ę
Ě	—	Ě	Ě
Ė	—	Ė	Ė

Best practice: For the four core accented E variants (è é ê ë), use the named entities — they are universally supported and highly readable in HTML source code. For extended variants (ē ĕ ę ě ė), use the hex numeric form. Always include <meta charset="UTF-8"> in your HTML <head>.

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Accented E by Language: When to Use Each Variant

French

French uses all four of the main accented E variants more than any other language — and uses them frequently:

• é (acute) — The most common. Represents a closed, sharp “ay” sound. Found in thousands of everyday words: été (summer), café, étoile (star), déjà, résumé, cliché
• è (grave) — Represents an open “eh” sound. Common in: très (very), après (after), père (father), mère (mother), frère (brother)
• ê (circumflex) — Often indicates a historical silent S that was dropped from older French spelling. Found in: fête (party), forêt (forest), tête (head), bête (beast)
• ë (diaeresis) — Indicates the E is pronounced separately from the preceding vowel. Used in: Noël (Christmas), naïve (via adjacent vowel rule), Citroën (brand name)

Spanish

Spanish uses only é (acute) — and only to mark the stressed syllable in words where stress falls unexpectedly or must be distinguished from a homograph:

• él (he) vs el (the)
• sé (I know) vs se (reflexive pronoun)
• qué (what) vs que (that)
• café, béisbol, estrés

Portuguese

Uses é, ê, and occasionally è:

• é — Open stressed E: café, você (you), é (is)
• ê — Closed stressed E: você (in some dialects), português, mês (month)

Italian

Uses è and é — primarily to distinguish word meanings:

• è (is) vs e (and)
• sé (oneself) vs se (if)
• Grave accent è is far more common in Italian than acute é

Czech and Slovak

Uses é and ě:

• é — A lengthened E sound
• ě — Softens the preceding consonant, producing a “ye” quality: město (city), věc (thing)

Polish

Uses ę extensively — one of the most characteristic letters of the Polish alphabet:

• Represents a nasalized E sound, similar to the French nasal vowel in fin
• Common words: będę (I will be), ręka (hand), pięć (five), język (language)

Dutch and Afrikaans

Uses ë to indicate that two adjacent vowels are pronounced separately rather than as a diphthong:

• drieën (three, in counting)
• geëerd (honored)
• reëel (real/realistic)

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The É in English Loanwords

Although English does not use accent marks as part of its native orthography, accented É appears in a large number of words borrowed from French that have been absorbed into everyday English usage. Technically these words should retain their accent marks in formal writing:

Word	Origin	With Accent	Without Accent
café	French	café	cafe
résumé	French	résumé	resume
naïve / naïveté	French	naïveté	naivete
fiancé / fiancée	French	fiancée	fiancee
cliché	French	cliché	cliche
déjà vu	French	déjà vu	deja vu
exposé	French	exposé	expose
rosé	French	rosé	rose
sauté	French	sauté	saute
entrée	French	entrée	entree
blasé	French	blasé	blase
communiqué	French	communiqué	communique

Style guides differ on whether to retain the accent marks in English writing. The Chicago Manual of Style recommends retaining them in words that have not yet been fully anglicized. AP Stylebook generally drops them. For formal, literary, or typographically careful writing, keeping the accent is the more correct choice.

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Quick Reference: E with Accent Cheat Sheet

Character	Mac Shortcut	Windows Alt	Word Shortcut	HTML Entity
è	Option + ` then E	Alt + 138	Ctrl + ` then E	è
é	Option + E then E	Alt + 130	Ctrl + ‘ then E	é
ê	Option + I then E	Alt + 136	Ctrl+Shift+^ then E	ê
ë	Option + U then E	Alt + 137	Ctrl+Shift+: then E	ë
ē	Hold E (Mac/iOS)	Alt + 0275	0113 + Alt+X	ē
ę	Character Viewer	Alt + 0281	0119 + Alt+X	ę
ě	Character Viewer	Alt + 0283	011B + Alt+X	ě
ė	Character Viewer	Alt + 0279	0117 + Alt+X	ė

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Final Thoughts

The letter E picks up more accent marks than any other vowel in the Latin alphabet — and in French especially, getting the right one is not optional. A missing or wrong accent on E changes pronunciation, meaning, and in some cases produces a completely different word. For quick and occasional use, press and hold on Mac, iPhone, and Android surfaces the four main variants instantly with no setup. For regular writing in French, Spanish, or any other accented language, adding the language keyboard is the cleanest long-term solution. Word users get excellent coverage through the built-in Ctrl shortcuts, and web developers should rely on é, è, ê, and ë for the four core variants — named entities with universal browser support going back to HTML 2.0.