HTML Entity for Lowercase A Breve (ă)

Beginner

5 min read

Updated: Sep 2026

1 example

Unicode U+0103

HTML Entity for lowercase a breve (U+0103) tutorial illustration

Definition

What Is the Lowercase A Breve Entity?

Lowercase a breve (ă) is the Latin Extended-A character at Unicode U+0103 (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE). It is the letter a with a breve (˘) — essential in Romanian and used in some romanizations.

Remember

Character     ă
Unicode       U+0103
Named entity  &abreve;
Hex entity    &#x103;
Decimal       &#259;
CSS escape    \0103
Capital       &Abreve; (Ă)

Named, hex, decimal, CSS, and a typed character all produce the same glyph: ă. Prefer &abreve; in HTML source for clarity.

Reference

Quick Reference

One table for every form you will actually use.

Form	Code	Where it goes
Named entity	`&abreve;`	HTML markup (best default)
Hex entity	`ă`	HTML markup
Decimal entity	`ă`	HTML markup
CSS escape	`\0103`	Stylesheet `content`
Direct character	`ă`	UTF-8 HTML text

When to Use Which

Situation	Use
Readable HTML source	`&abreve;`
Numeric entity required	`ă` or `ă`
Generated text via `::before` / `::after`	`content: "\0103"`
Capital Ă	`&Abreve;` — see Uppercase A Breve
Acute á instead	See Lowercase A Acute (`á`)

See it

Live Preview

Lowercase a breve in Romanian and comparison contexts.

Romanian sample măr, băiat

Large glyph ă

Named entity &abreve; → ă

vs a / Ă / á ă | a | Ă | á

With entities Named: ă | Hex: ă | Decimal: ă

Code

Complete HTML Example

One page that shows this character with named, hex, decimal, and CSS forms. Use View Output or open the live editor.

Named + Hex + Decimal + CSS

Four ways to produce ă in a single document.

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Lowercase A Breve (&abreve;)</title>
  <style>
    #point::after {
      content: "\0103";
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <p>Using Named Entity: &abreve;</p>
  <p>Using Hex Code: &#x103;</p>
  <p>Using HTML Code: &#259;</p>
  <p id="point">Using CSS Entity: </p>
  <p lang="ro">Rom&acirc;n&abreve;: m&abreve;r, b&abreve;iat</p>
</body>
</html>

Try It Yourself

How It Works

1. Named: &abreve; is the clearest HTML form and renders ă.

2. Hex: U+0103 → ă in HTML. Same result as the named entity.

3. Decimal: same code point as 259 → ă. Same result as hex.

4. CSS: use \0103 in content (not an HTML entity). #point::after appends that ă after the paragraph text.

Pitfalls & Tips

Common mistakes when working with lowercase a breve.

Case

`&abreve;` ≠ `&Abreve;`

Named entities are case-sensitive. Lowercase is ă; uppercase is Ă.

Look-alikes

Not `á` or `â`

Acute á and circumflex â are different diacritics. Romanian â is â; ă is &abreve;.

Compose

Prefer precomposed

Use &abreve; instead of a plus combining breve when the precomposed form exists.

CSS vs HTML

Do not mix escapes

\0103 belongs in CSS. &abreve; / ă / ă belong in HTML.

Encoding

Declare UTF-8

If you type ă directly, keep <meta charset="UTF-8"> so the file is not misread.

Semicolon

End references

Always finish with ; — write &abreve;, not &abreve.

Compatibility

Browser Support

Lowercase a breve (U+0103) and its entity forms (&abreve;, ă, ă, CSS \\0103) are supported in all modern browsers.

✓ Universal encoding

Lowercase A Breve (&abreve;)

Encode with named, hex, decimal, or CSS escape — or type ă directly in UTF-8 HTML.

100% Browser coverage

Google Chrome Supported

Yes

Microsoft Edge Supported

Yes

Mozilla Firefox Supported

Yes

Apple Safari Supported

Yes

Opera Supported

Yes

Internet Explorer IE 9+

Yes*

U+0103 Full support

Bottom line: Prefer &abreve; for readable HTML. Use \\0103 only inside CSS content.

Remember

Key Takeaways

Unicode: this character is U+0103 (decimal 259).
HTML: prefer &abreve; — or use ă / ă.
CSS: use \0103 inside content for generated text.
Watch out: &abreve; ≠ &Abreve; ≠ á ≠ â.

One line: U+0103 → &abreve; / ă / ă / CSS \0103.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I display lowercase a breve (ă) in HTML using entities?

Use &abreve; (named), ă (hex), ă (decimal), or the CSS escape \0103 in the content property. All render ă. Prefer &abreve; in HTML source.

What is the Unicode value for lowercase a breve?

U+0103 (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE). Hex 103, decimal 259. It belongs to Latin Extended-A (U+0100–U+017F).

Is there a named HTML entity for U+0103?

Yes. &abreve; is the HTML5 named entity for ă. The capital form is &Abreve; (Ă, U+0102) — names are case-sensitive.

When should I use this HTML entity?

Use it for Romanian text (e.g. măr, băiat), Vietnamese romanization, linguistics, and internationalized web content that needs ă.

What is the difference between HTML code and CSS entity for U+0103?

HTML entities (&abreve;, ă, or ă) go in markup. The CSS escape \0103 is used in stylesheets (usually in the content property of ::before/::after). Both render ă.

Is ă the same as á or à?

No. Acute á is á (U+00E1). Grave à is à (U+00E0). Breve ă is &abreve; (U+0103) — a different diacritic.

Did you know?

Lowercase a breve is Unicode U+0103 (decimal 259) — LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE in Latin Extended-A. HTML5 provides &abreve; — the most readable form. Capital is &Abreve; (Ă, U+0102). Essential in Romanian (măr, băiat).

Next: Lowercase A Caron

Learn the HTML entity for Lowercase A Caron — next in this sequence.

Continue tutorial →

About the author

Mari Selvan M P 🔗

Developer, cloud engineer, and technical writer

Experience 12 years building web and cloud systems
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