Latin Capital I with Diaeresis Ï

The Latin Capital I with Diaeresis character (Ï) is a standard HTML entity defined in the HTML specification. In HTML source code, it can be written using the named entity reference Ï, the decimal numeric character reference Ï, or the hexadecimal numeric reference Ï. The character is assigned Unicode code point U+00CF in the Universal Character Set.

The capital I with diaeresis (Ï) indicates that the I is pronounced separately from the preceding vowel. It appears in French and is occasionally preserved in English words of French origin. The diaeresis prevents the vowel combination from being read as a diphthong.

Latin extended character entities provide the accented and modified letters required by dozens of European languages. From French accents aigus and graves to German umlauts, Scandinavian rings, and Icelandic thorns, these entities ensure correct rendering of non-ASCII characters within HTML documents. While modern UTF-8 encoded pages can include these characters directly in source code, HTML entities remain valuable for source code clarity and legacy compatibility.

When deciding how to encode the Latin Capital I with Diaeresis character in your HTML documents, the named entity Ï is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form Ï and hexadecimal form Ï are equally valid alternatives that work in contexts where named entities may not be supported, or when generating HTML output programmatically from server-side code. All three representations produce identical visual output in every modern web browser.

Use this entity in French text and English words that preserve the diaeresis (naïve → Naïve when capitalized). While less common than other diaeresis characters, it serves an important phonetic function in distinguishing vowel pronunciation in several languages.