HTML Entity for Lowercase A Breve (ă)

Beginner
⏱️ 5 min read
📚 Updated: Jun 2026
🎯 1 Code Example
Unicode U+0103
HTML Entity for Lowercase A Breve tutorial illustration

What You'll Learn

How to display the lowercase a with breve (ă) in HTML using named entity, hexadecimal, decimal, and CSS escape methods. This character is U+0103 in the Latin Extended-A block and is essential for Romanian, Vietnamese romanization, and other languages.

Render it with ă, ă, ă, or CSS escape \103. The named entity ă is often the most readable option in HTML source.

⚡ Quick Reference — Lowercase A Breve Entity

Unicode U+0103

Latin Extended-A

Hex Code ă

Hexadecimal reference

HTML Code ă

Decimal reference

Named Entity ă

Most readable option

Reference Table
Name           Value
────────────   ──────────
Unicode        U+0103
Hex code       ă
HTML code      ă
Named entity   ă
CSS code       \103
Meaning        Latin small letter a with breve
Related        U+0102 = Ă (uppercase)
Block          Latin Extended-A (U+0100–U+017F)
1

Complete HTML Example

A simple example showing the lowercase a breve (ă) using hexadecimal code, decimal HTML code, the named entity, and a CSS content escape:

html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
 <style>
  #point:after{
   content: "\103";
  }
 </style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Symbol (hex): &#x103;</p>
<p>Symbol (decimal): &#259;</p>
<p>Symbol (named): &abreve;</p>
<p id="point">Symbol (CSS): </p>
</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself

🌐 Browser Support

The lowercase a breve (ă) and the named entity &abreve; are supported in modern browsers:

Chrome1+
Firefox1+
Safari1+
Edge12+
Opera4+
Android4.4+
iOS Safari1+

👀 Live Preview

See the lowercase a breve (ă) in language and content contexts:

Large glyphă
Romanianmăr, băiat, că
Place nameGăești
Named entity&abreve; renders as ă
Numeric refs&#x103; &#259; &abreve; \103

🧠 How It Works

1

Hexadecimal Code

&#x103; uses the Unicode hexadecimal value 103 to display the character. The x prefix indicates hexadecimal format.

HTML markup
2

Decimal HTML Code

&#259; uses the decimal Unicode value 259 to display the same character. A common method for Latin Extended-A characters.

HTML markup
3

Named Entity

&abreve; is the standard named entity for ă—readable in source HTML and part of the HTML5 entity set.

HTML markup
4

CSS Entity

\103 is used in CSS stylesheets, particularly in the content property of pseudo-elements like ::before and ::after.

CSS stylesheet
=

Same visual result

All four methods produce the glyph: ă. Unicode U+0103 sits in Latin Extended-A. Uppercase equivalent: U+0102 (&Abreve;). Do not confuse with plain a (U+0061) or acute &aacute; (á).

✅

Use Cases

The lowercase a breve (ă) is commonly used in:

🇬🇪 Romanian

Essential in words like măr, băiat, and că. The breve marks a distinct vowel sound.

🌐 Internationalization

Websites and apps serving Romanian-speaking audiences or Vietnamese romanization.

📝 Proper names

Names of people, cities, and brands that include ă (e.g. Găești).

🔤 Linguistics

Phonetic transcriptions, language learning apps, and dictionaries.

📄 Publishing

Legal, academic, and editorial content in Romanian and related languages.

🎨 Typography

Headlines, logos, and styled text requiring correct accented spelling.

🔍 Search & SEO

Correct rendering so users can find Romanian content (e.g. searching for “măr”).

💡 Best Practices

Do

  • Use &abreve; in HTML when possible for readability
  • Serve pages as UTF-8; you can also type ă directly in UTF-8 source
  • Set lang="ro" for Romanian content so screen readers pronounce ă correctly
  • Use fonts that support Latin Extended-A characters
  • Distinguish ă (breve) from á (acute) and plain a (U+0061)

Don’t

  • Substitute plain a when ă is required (măr vs mar changes meaning)
  • Confuse breve ă with circumflex â or acute á
  • Put CSS escape \103 in HTML text nodes
  • Assume all fonts render Latin Extended-A glyphs identically
  • Omit UTF-8 encoding on pages with accented characters

Key Takeaways

1

Four references render ă; named entity is most readable

&#x103; &#259; &abreve;
2

For CSS stylesheets, use the escape in the content property

\103
3

Unicode U+0103 — LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE

4

Essential for Romanian, Vietnamese romanization, and i18n content

5

Previous: Lowercase A Acute (á)   Next: Lowercase A Caron

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Use &abreve; (named), &#x103; (hex), &#259; (decimal), or \103 in CSS content. The named entity &abreve; is the most readable for HTML content.
U+0103 (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH BREVE). Latin Extended-A block. Hex 103, decimal 259. Used in Romanian, Vietnamese romanization, and other languages.
When writing Romanian (e.g. măr, băiat), Vietnamese romanization, or other languages that use the breve diacritic, plus linguistics, phonetic transcriptions, and internationalized web content.
HTML code (&#259; or &#x103;) or the named entity &abreve; is used in HTML content. The CSS entity (\103) is used in CSS, e.g. in the content property of pseudo-elements. Both produce ă but in different contexts.
Yes. The named HTML entity is &abreve;. It is part of the standard HTML5 entity set and is well supported. You can also use &#259; or &#x103; for numeric references.

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About the author

Mari Selvan M P
Mari Selvan M P 🔗

Developer, cloud engineer, and technical writer

  • Experience 12 years building web and cloud systems
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I write practical tutorials so students and working developers can learn by doing—from databases and APIs to deployment on AWS.

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