Latin Small Letter Alpha ɑ

ɑ (U+251) is a standard Unicode character that you can copy and paste anywhere text is accepted. This page provides a concise reference with safe tips, internal links, and practical guidance so you can use it reliably across apps and platforms.

What it is and where it’s used: Latin Small Letter Alpha is part of the Symbols family (block: IPA Extensions). If you need styled or decorative alternatives, try our Fancy Text tool to generate compatible text that works in most modern interfaces.

Copy and input: the quickest method is to copy the character here. You can also insert it by its codepoint U+251 in many development tools or editors. Some operating systems provide a character viewer or input palette that lets you search by name or code and insert the glyph into documents.

Display and fallback: if you see an empty box (tofu) or a placeholder rectangle, the active font might not include this codepoint. Switching to a font with broader Unicode coverage or using a fallback font usually fixes the issue. On the web, ensure the page’s font stack includes a general‑purpose fallback.

Related references: browse the Categories for similar characters. When choosing a symbol, prefer the official codepoint for semantic clarity and better compatibility with search, copy, and accessibility tooling.

See our category page for related symbols.