HTML Entity for Lowercase A Umlaut (ä)

Beginner

5 min read

Updated: Sep 2026

1 example

Unicode U+00E4

HTML Entity for lowercase a umlaut (U+00E4) tutorial illustration

Definition

What Is the Lowercase A Umlaut Entity?

Lowercase a umlaut (ä) is the Latin-1 Supplement character at Unicode U+00E4 (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS). It is the letter a with two dots (¨) — common in German, Swedish, and Finnish.

Remember

Character     ä
Unicode       U+00E4
Named entity  &auml;
Hex entity    &#xE4;
Decimal       &#228;
CSS escape    \00E4
Capital       &Auml; (Ä)

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

Reference

Quick Reference

One table for every form you will actually use.

Form	Code	Where it goes
Named entity	`ä`	HTML markup (best default)
Hex entity	`ä`	HTML markup
Decimal entity	`ä`	HTML markup
CSS escape	`\00E4`	Stylesheet `content`
Direct character	`ä`	UTF-8 HTML text

When to Use Which

Situation	Use
Readable HTML source	`ä`
Numeric entity required	`ä` or `ä`
Generated text via `::before` / `::after`	`content: "\00E4"`
Capital Ä	`Ä` — see Uppercase A Umlaut
Tilde ã instead	See Lowercase A Tilde (`ã`)

See it

Live Preview

Lowercase a umlaut in German and comparison contexts.

German sample Mädchen, Bär

Large glyph ä

Named entity ä → ä

vs a / Ä / ã ä | a | Ä | ã

With entities Named: ä | Hex: ä | Decimal: ä

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 ä in a single document.

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Lowercase A Umlaut (&auml;)</title>
  <style>
    #point::after {
      content: "\00E4";
    }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <p>Using Named Entity: &auml;</p>
  <p>Using Hex Code: &#xE4;</p>
  <p>Using HTML Code: &#228;</p>
  <p id="point">Using CSS Entity: </p>
  <p lang="de">Deutsch: M&auml;dchen, B&auml;r</p>
</body>
</html>

Try It Yourself

How It Works

1. Named: ä is the clearest HTML form and renders ä.

2. Hex: U+00E4 → ä in HTML. Same result as the named entity.

3. Decimal: same code point as 228 → ä. Same result as hex.

4. CSS: use \00E4 in content (not an HTML entity). #point::after appends that ä after the paragraph text.

Pitfalls & Tips

Common mistakes when working with lowercase a umlaut.

Case

`ä` ≠ `Ä`

Named entities are case-sensitive. Lowercase is ä; uppercase is Ä.

Look-alikes

Not `ã` or `ǟ`

Tilde ã and diaeresis+macron ǟ are different characters. Umlaut ä is two dots only.

Compose

Prefer precomposed

Use ä instead of a plus combining diaeresis when the precomposed form exists.

CSS vs HTML

Do not mix escapes

\00E4 belongs in CSS. ä / ä / ä belong in HTML.

Encoding

Declare UTF-8

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

Semicolon

End references

Always finish with ; — write ä, not &auml.

Compatibility

Browser Support

Lowercase a umlaut (U+00E4) and its entity forms (ä, ä, ä, CSS \\00E4) are supported in all modern browsers.

✓ Universal encoding

Lowercase A Umlaut (ä)

Encode with named, hex, decimal, or CSS escape — or type ä 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+00E4 Full support

Bottom line: Prefer ä for readable HTML. Use \\00E4 only inside CSS content.

Remember

Key Takeaways

Unicode: this character is U+00E4 (decimal 228).
HTML: prefer ä — or use ä / ä.
CSS: use \00E4 inside content for generated text.
Watch out: ä ≠ Ä ≠ ã ≠ ǟ.

One line: U+00E4 → ä / ä / ä / CSS \00E4.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I display lowercase a umlaut (ä) in HTML using entities?

Use ä (named), ä (hex), ä (decimal), or the CSS escape \00E4 in the content property. All render ä. Prefer ä in HTML source.

What is the Unicode value for lowercase a umlaut?

U+00E4 (LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS). Hex E4, decimal 228. It belongs to the Latin-1 Supplement block (U+0080–U+00FF).

Is there a named HTML entity for U+00E4?

Yes. ä is the HTML5 named entity for ä. The capital form is Ä (Ä, U+00C4) — names are case-sensitive.

When should I use this HTML entity?

Use it for German, Swedish, Finnish, and other languages that need ä, plus proper names and internationalized web content.

What is the difference between HTML code and CSS entity for U+00E4?

HTML entities (ä, ä, or ä) go in markup. The CSS escape \00E4 is used in stylesheets (usually in the content property of ::before/::after). Both render ä.

Is umlaut the same as diaeresis for ä?

For U+00E4 they are the same glyph (two dots). German calls it umlaut; Unicode names it diaeresis. Use ä either way.

Did you know?

Lowercase a umlaut is Unicode U+00E4 (decimal 228) — LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH DIAERESIS in Latin-1 Supplement. HTML5 provides ä — the most readable form. Capital is Ä (Ä, U+00C4). Common in German (Mädchen, Bär), Swedish, and Finnish. Umlaut and diaeresis look the same here.

Next: Lowercase Ae

Learn the HTML entity for Lowercase Ae — 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
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.

AWS Certified Developer – Associate (Credly)

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