Iota Symbol (ι)
The iota symbol ι is Unicode U+03B9, the ninth and smallest letter of the Greek alphabet. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard.
- Unicode
U+03B9- HTML
ι- Word
03B9 Alt+X
How to type the iota symbol (ι)
The quickest way is to press Copy above and paste. To type ι yourself, use the method for your device below.
Windows
- In Word or Outlook, type 03B9 and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
- Press Win + R, type charmap and press Enter. Tick “Advanced view”, search for Greek Small Letter Iota, then Select and Copy. Character Map is built into every version of Windows.
Mac
- Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for iota and double-click it.
- With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 03B9.
Linux & ChromeOS
- Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 3b9, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.
iPhone & iPad
- Copy ι from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;iota. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.
Android
- Copy ι here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.
Microsoft Word
- Type 03B9, then press Alt + X.
- Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 03B9 in “Character code” and click Insert.
Google Docs
- Insert → Special characters, then search for “iota” or draw it in the box.
Excel & Google Sheets
- Enter
=UNICHAR(953)in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.
HTML
- Write
ιorιin your HTML.
What does ι mean?
Iota (ι, capital Ι) is the ninth and smallest letter of the Greek alphabet, pronounced “eye-OH-tuh”. Its size gave English the phrase “not one iota”, meaning not the smallest amount. The lowercase has no dot, which is the easiest way to tell it from a Latin i. In Ancient Greek a tiny “iota subscript” (ͅ) was written under some vowels, and it still appears in classical texts.
Common uses
- Idioms: “it makes not one iota of difference”
- Classical Greek: ᾳ with an iota subscript
- Programming: the ι (iota) function in APL generates a range of numbers
Iota Symbol codes for HTML, CSS and programming
Every code below produces ι. Use the HTML entity in web pages, the CSS escape in content, and the escape sequence in source code.
| Unicode code point | U+03B9 | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML entity (named) | ι | |
| HTML decimal | ι | |
| HTML hex | ι | |
| CSS content | content: "\3B9"; | |
| JavaScript | "\u03B9" | |
| Python | "\u03B9" | |
| Python (by name) | "\N{GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA}" | |
| Java / C# | "\u03B9" | |
| LaTeX | \iota | |
| UTF-8 bytes | CE B9 | |
| UTF-16 | 03B9 | |
| URL encoded | %CE%B9 |
ι vs look-alike characters
These characters look similar to ι but have a different meaning and code. Pasting the wrong one can break search, sorting and screen readers.
| Char | Name | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
IU+0069 | The Latin small letter i, which has a dot. | |
IotaU+0269 | Latin small letter iota (U+0269), used in some African alphabets. |
Symbols similar to ι
Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full greek letters collection.
- Greek Alpha Details
- Greek Beta Details
- Greek Gamma Details
- Greek Epsilon Details
- Greek Zeta Details
- Greek Eta Details
- Greek Theta Details
- Greek Kappa Details
- Greek Lamda Details
- Greek Mu Details
- Greek Nu Details
- Greek Xi Details
- Greek Omicron Details
- Greek Pi Details
- Greek Rho Details
- Greek Tau Details
- Greek Upsilon Details
- Greek Phi Details
ι character properties
- Official Unicode name
- GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA
- Also known as
- iota, greek letter iota
- Code point
- U+03B9
- Unicode block
- Greek and Coptic (U+0370–U+03FF)
- General category
- Lowercase letter (Ll)
- Added in
- Unicode 1.1 (1993)
- Plane
- Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
- Emoji
- No, it is a text symbol
Frequently asked questions
What does “not one iota” mean?
It means not even the smallest amount. The phrase comes from iota being the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet.
Is there an alt code for the iota symbol?
No. ι is outside the Windows-1252 and code page 437 character sets, so no Alt + number code produces it. Copy it from this page, type 03B9 then Alt + X in Word, or find it in Character Map.
How do I type the iota symbol on a Mac?
There is no single Option shortcut for ι on the US layout. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for “iota” and double-click it, or copy it from this page.
What is the HTML code for the iota symbol?
Use the named entity ι or the numeric reference ι (hex ι). All three display ι in every browser.
What is the Unicode for the iota symbol?
ι is U+03B9, officially named GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA, in the Greek and Coptic block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).