O with accent: ô Ô

Type ô: Alt + 0244 on Windows, Option+IthenO on a Mac, or hold O on your phone.

Copy the letters

Click a letter to copy it, then paste it with Ctrl + V (Cmd + V on a Mac).

In French, the o takes one accent: the circumflex, ô. It closes the vowel, as in “oh”.

Keyboard shortcuts on a U.S. QWERTY keyboard

Mac: standard U.S. or ABC layout. Windows: the free United States-International layout, or an Alt code with any layout.

  • ôMacOption+IthenOWindowsShift+6thenOAlt codeAlt + 0244
  • ÔMacOption+IthenShift+OWindowsShift+6thenShift+OAlt codeAlt + 0212

Mac

Or press and hold O: a menu of accented versions appears.

Windows

Alt codes need a numeric keypad. Set up US-International.

Phone

Touch and hold O on the keyboard, then slide to the letter you want.

When to use ô in French

Like other circumflexes, ô often stands for a vanished “s”: hôtel (hostel), côte (coast), hôpital (hospital).

It can change the meaning: côte (coast, rib) and cote (rating), notre (our) and le nôtre (ours).

Looking for œ, as in cœur (heart)? It is a separate letter, the o-e ligature: see the œ page.

  • ô · hôtel, côte, rôle
  • Ô · HÔTEL

Typing French every day?

The free Chrome extension opens every French accent with Ctrl + Shift + E on any website: no codes to remember.

See the Chrome extension

Frequently asked questions

Hold Alt and type 0244 on the numeric keypad (Num Lock on), then release Alt: ô appears. The number row above the letters does not work, so most laptops need another method.

On a U.S. or ABC keyboard, press Option + I, then O. You can also press and hold the O key and pick ô from the menu that appears.

Touch and hold the O key on the on-screen keyboard: its accented versions appear above it. Slide to ô and release.

Yes. The Académie française recommends keeping accents on capitals (Ô as in HÔTEL), because they can change the meaning and the pronunciation.