typesetting Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or '' glyphs'' in digital systems representing '' characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random ...

, the hook or tail is a

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

mark attached to letters in many alphabets. In shape it looks like a hook and it can be attached below as a

descender In typography and handwriting, a descender is the portion of a letter that extends below the baseline of a font. For example, in the letter ''y'', the descender is the "tail", or that portion of the diagonal line which lies below the ''v'' c ...

, on top as an ascender and sometimes to the side. The orientation of the hook can change its meaning: when it is below and curls to the left it can be interpreted as a

palatal hook The palatal hook () is a type of hook diacritic formerly used in the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent palatalized consonants. It is a small, leftwards-facing hook joined to the bottom-right side of a letter, and is distinguished from ...

, and when it curls to the right is called hook tail or tail and can be interpreted as a

retroflex hook In typesetting, the hook or tail is a diacritic mark attached to letters in many alphabets. In shape it looks like a hook and it can be attached below as a descender, on top as an ascender (typography), ascender and sometimes to the side. The ...

. It should not be mistaken with the hook above, a diacritical mark used in Vietnamese, or the rhotic hook, used in the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...

. Letter Z with tophook — became letter Latin capital letter Z with tophook

. Letter X with two high hooks — became letter Latin capital letter X with two high hooks

Letters with hook

It could be argued that the hook was used to derive the letter J from the letter I, or the letter Eng (ŋ) from the letter N. However, these letters are usually not identified as being formed with the hook. Most letters with hook are used in the

, and many languages use them (along with capitals) representing the same sounds. The hook often attaches to the top part of the letter, curling to the left or to the right, finishing the ascender if present. It may then be referred to as a ''crook'', in some languages like FrenchAs in the non-standard French translation of the UCSbr>ListeNoms
more commonly than in English that is less successful in mitigating the semantic overload of the ''hook'' term. If the hook attaches to the bottom part of the letter, it is often called a

if it curls to the left, or a

if it curls to the right. The letter ɿ with right hook does not necessarily mean retroflex (this is not true for ʅ).

Unicode

Unicode has the combining diacritics and but these are not recommended to be used with letters, and should be used to illustrate the hooks themselves. Instead Unicode recommends the use of characters that already include the hook. The is used to mark an r-colored vowel.

References

{{Latin script, , show diacritic=hook , show diacritic 2=retroflex hook Latin-script diacritics Cyrillic-script diacritics

Letters with hook

Unicode

See also

References