Dead Key

By Xah Lee. Date: . Last updated: .

Dead key is used for inputting characters with diacritic marks, such as éàêñü.

Press (and release) the dead key first, then type a letter.

For example of keyboard with dead key, see:

Many European language layout have both Alt Graph Key and dead keys. See: International Keyboard Layouts .

On the Mac, ⌥ option+e is a software dead key. It adds the acute mark to any letter typed after. 〔see Mac Keyboard Viewer〕

Alt Graph Key, Compose Key, Dead Key