Latin Capital Letter Thorn Þ

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

The capital Thorn (Þ) is an Old English and modern Icelandic letter representing the voiceless dental fricative — the 'th' sound in 'think' and 'thick.' While it disappeared from English by the 15th century, it survives in Icelandic. The abbreviation 'ye' (as in 'Ye Olde Shoppe') actually represents thorn, not the letter Y.

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 Letter Thorn character in your HTML documents, the named entity Þ is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form Þ and hexadecimal form Þ 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this entity in Icelandic text (where Þ/þ remains an essential, everyday letter), Old English studies, and linguistic or historical content. The thorn's history is fascinating — its misreading as 'y' in old manuscripts gave rise to the 'ye' in 'Ye Olde' signs.