An accented character is a letter or basic glyph to which a special glyph is added. These special glyphs are called diacritics, accent marks, or sometimes simply accents.

In English, accented characters are used in words borrowed from other languages, such as résumé or tête-à-tête. In their respective languages of origin, accented characters can define an individual sound, tone, emphasis, or meaning.

Some of the most common diacritics used in English borrowed words are:

• Acute (é)
• Grave (è)
• Circumflex (â, î or ô)
• Tilde (ñ)
• Umlaut and dieresis (ü or ï – the same symbol is used for two different purposes)
• Cedilla (ç)

Diacritics don't stand alone — they need to be added to an already existing letter.

Fonts incorporate diacritics in two ways:

• In fonts with floating accents, you create accented characters on the fly. First, type the base letter, then press a dedicated key to add the needed accent.
• In fonts with prebuilt accented characters, you can type an accented character either from the glyph panel or by using specific key combinations.

Most professional-quality fonts include a range of floating accents and prebuilt accented characters.