HTML Entity for Lowercase A Grave (à)

Beginner
⏱️ 5 min read
📚 Updated: Jun 2026
🎯 1 Code Example
Unicode U+00E0
HTML Entity for Lowercase A Grave tutorial illustration

What You'll Learn

How to display the lowercase a with grave accent (à) in HTML using named entity, hexadecimal, decimal, and CSS escape methods. This character is used in French (e.g. à, là, déjà), Italian (e.g. perché), Portuguese, and other languages. It is U+00E0 in the Latin-1 Supplement block.

Render it with à, à, à, or CSS escape \E0. The named entity à is often the most readable option in HTML source.

⚡ Quick Reference — Lowercase A Grave Entity

Unicode U+00E0

Latin-1 Supplement

Hex Code à

Hexadecimal reference

HTML Code à

Decimal reference

Named Entity à

Most readable option

Reference Table
Name           Value
────────────   ──────────
Unicode        U+00E0
Hex code       à
HTML code      à
Named entity   à
CSS code       \E0
Meaning        Latin small letter a with grave
Related        U+00C0 = À (uppercase)
Block          Latin-1 Supplement (U+0080–U+00FF)
1

Complete HTML Example

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

html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
 <style>
  #point:after{
   content: "\E0";
  }
 </style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Symbol (hex): &#xE0;</p>
<p>Symbol (decimal): &#224;</p>
<p>Symbol (named): &agrave;</p>
<p id="point">Symbol (CSS): </p>
</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself

🌐 Browser Support

The lowercase a grave (à) and the named entity &agrave; are supported in modern browsers:

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

👀 Live Preview

See the lowercase a grave (à) in French, Italian, and Portuguese contexts:

Large glyphà
Frenchà, là, déjà, voilà
Italianperché, più, città
Named entity&agrave; renders as à
Numeric refs&#xE0; &#224; &agrave; \E0

🧠 How It Works

1

Hexadecimal Code

&#xE0; uses the Unicode hexadecimal value E0 to display the character. The x prefix indicates hexadecimal format.

HTML markup
2

Decimal HTML Code

&#224; uses the decimal Unicode value 224 to display the same character. A common method for Latin-1 characters.

HTML markup
3

Named Entity

&agrave; is the standard named entity for à—readable in source HTML and part of the HTML Latin-1 entity set.

HTML markup
4

CSS Entity

\E0 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: à. Unicode U+00E0 sits in Latin-1 Supplement. Uppercase equivalent: U+00C0 (&Agrave;). Do not confuse with ȁ (double grave, U+0201).

✅

Use Cases

The lowercase a grave (à) is commonly used in:

🇫🇷 French

Essential in words like à (to/at), là (there), déjà (already), and voilà.

🇮🇹 Italian & Portuguese

Used in Italian (e.g. perché, più, città) and Portuguese. Correct accent is required for meaning.

📝 Proper names

Names of people, cities, and brands that include à must display correctly for accessibility and SEO.

🔤 Linguistics

Language learning apps, dictionaries, and phonetic content teaching French and other languages.

📄 Publishing

Legal, academic, and editorial content in French, Italian, or Portuguese.

🎨 Typography

Headlines, logos, and styled text in French or Italian requiring correct spelling.

🔍 Search & SEO

Correct rendering so users can find content (e.g. searching for “déjà” or “perché”).

💡 Best Practices

Do

  • Use &agrave; in HTML when possible for readability
  • Serve pages as UTF-8; you can also type à directly in UTF-8 source
  • Set lang attributes (e.g. lang="fr", lang="it") for correct pronunciation
  • Use fonts that support Latin-1 Supplement characters
  • Distinguish à (single grave) from ȁ (double grave) and plain a

Don’t

  • Substitute plain a when à is required for correct spelling
  • Confuse single grave à with double grave ȁ
  • Put CSS escape \E0 in HTML text nodes
  • Assume all fonts render accented Latin-1 glyphs identically
  • Omit UTF-8 encoding on pages with accented characters

Key Takeaways

1

Four references render à; named entity is most readable

&#xE0; &#224; &agrave;
2

For CSS stylesheets, use the escape in the content property

\E0
3

Unicode U+00E0 — LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE

4

Essential for French, Italian, Portuguese, and i18n content

5

Previous: Lowercase A Double Grave (ȁ)   Next: Lowercase A Inverted Breve

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Use &agrave; (named), &#xE0; (hex), &#224; (decimal), or \E0 in CSS content. The named entity &agrave; is the most readable for HTML content.
U+00E0 (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH GRAVE). Latin-1 Supplement block. Hex E0, decimal 224. Used in French, Italian, Portuguese, and other languages.
When writing French (e.g. à, là, déjà), Italian (e.g. perché, più), Portuguese, Catalan, or other languages that use the grave accent, plus proper names and internationalized web content.
HTML code (&#224; or &#xE0;) or the named entity &agrave; is used in HTML content. The CSS entity (\E0) is used in CSS, e.g. in the content property of pseudo-elements. Both produce à but in different contexts.
Yes. The named HTML entity is &agrave;. It is part of the standard HTML Latin-1 entity set and is well supported. You can also use &#224; or &#xE0; 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
  • Focus Full Stack Development, AWS, and Developer Education

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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