{"id":18751,"date":"2026-06-15T15:42:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/?p=18751"},"modified":"2026-05-31T16:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T23:36:16","slug":"combining-diacritical-marks-and-zalgo-text","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/2026\/06\/15\/combining-diacritical-marks-and-zalgo-text\/","title":{"rendered":"Combining diacritical marks, and Zalgo text"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>Wikipedia says:<\/p>\r\n<blockquote>\r\n<p>In digital typography, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Combining_character\">combining characters<\/a> are characters that are intended to modify other characters. The most common combining characters in the Latin script are the combining diacritical marks<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<p>The idea is that (for example) instead of having separate characters for <i>e<\/i>, <i>\u00e9<\/i>, <i>\u00eb<\/i>, <i>\u00ea<\/i>, <i>\u00e8<\/i>, and so on, a character encoding (such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/1999\/02\/14\/dddit\/\">Unicode<\/a>) can have one character for <i>e<\/i> that can be combined with each of those diacritics.<\/p>\r\n<p>That combining of characters is especially useful when you want to apply two or more diacritics to a given character. There are plenty of ordinary real-world contexts where you might want to do that, such as writing in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vietnamese_alphabet\">Vietnamese alphabet<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p>There are also less serious contexts where you might want to apply multiple diacritics. One such context, is <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Zalgo_text\">Zalgo text<\/a>: \u201cdigital text that has been modified with numerous Unicode combining characters [\u2026] to appear frightening or glitchy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>And you can generate your own Zalgo text using the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zalgogenerator.com\/\">Zalgo Generator<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n<p>For example, I used that generator to create the following text, starting with a line from Lovecraft:<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>P\u0348\u0316\u031d\u0348\u0356\u031e\u0324\u0333\u0347\u034a\u036c\u036c\u033d\u0306\u0346\u030e\u0352\u031ah\u0301\u0362\u2019\u031c\u0331\u0318\u033a\u0301\u030a\u030c\u0350n\u0333\u032d\u033c\u0355\u0355\u0359\u0359\u0333g\u0332\u0320\u0326\u033b\u0353\u0305\u036c\u036c\u036d\u030c\u0301\u0361l\u0489\u033a\u0318\u0333\u033a\u034d\u031e\u0329\u0323\u0347\u0326\u0320\u033b\u0345\u016f\u0489\u0315\u034f\u032di\u034d\u0339\u0348\u032a\u0323\u032a\u0357\u0363\u0303\u030f\u036b\u0305\u035e \u0338\u0336\u0358m\u0328\u031b\u0351\u0350\u0311\u0367\u0357\u0301\u0306\u0363\u0302gl\u0336w\u0316\u032a\u034e\u033c\u032e\u0366\u0305\u0365\u0357\u034b\u0361\u2019\u0317\u032f\u0355\u032d\u0324\u034e\u033a\u033b\u0324\u032d\u032b\u032d\u0305\u0313\u0313\u030e\u0369\u0306\u0367\u0346\u030f\u033e\u0342\u030f\u1e4b\u031f\u0325\u0316\u0330\u0317\u033a\u033b\u0319\u0349\u0339\u031f\u0324\u0323\u031d\u01ce\u0327\u0324\u0353\u0363\u0301\u0358f\u0350\u0301\u0369\u0307\u0305\u0301\u036c\u0307\u034f\u032d\u0317\u0359\u033a\u0347\u033c\u033c\u0332\u0301h\u0313\u0310\u0300\u0300\u0346\u0364\u0342\u036b\u0350 \u0335\u0316\u031e\u031d\u0347\u0348\u032a\u033a\u033c\u0329\u0318\u0348\u0348\u00c7\u036e\u0311\u0363\u0304\u0363\u0367\u0350\u0313\u030f\u0309\u034a\u0368\u0364\u0306\u0367\u034f\u0322\u031d\u032d\u0349\u0353\u0319\u0329\u0329\u0348\u0333\u0318\u0330\u034e\u0333\u032c\u0355t\u0335\u0321\u0301\u1e2b\u0321\u0347\u032c\u0355\u031e\u032d\u0317\u032e\u035a\u0324\u0326\u0366\u036b\u0366\u0366\u030f\u0364\u0304\u0301\u0301\u030f\u0301\u035eu\u036b\u0313\u0366\u0313\u030e\u0314\u0357\u0313\u035b\u030b\u0313\u0303\u031a\u0489\u0335\u031b\u0329\u032a\u0317\u0318\u0331\u0354\u0333\u0354\u031f\u0332\u032b\u031f\u033bl\u034d\u0316\u0333\u0325\u0333\u032d\u033b\u0333\u0354\u0348\u034d\u032f\u0313\u0313\u0366\u0342\u035b\u0350\u0308\u0365\u036d\u0307\u0308\u0308h\u0329\u031d\u0323\u031d\u032b\u033a\u034d\u032d\u0318\u032d\u031c\u0303\u030c\u0308\u0301\u0313\u0368\u0301\u034a\u0310\u0346\u0308\u0363\u035c\u035c\u035eu \u031c\u0359\u031e\u033c\u032e\u0333\u0323\u0339\u0331\u032e\u0323\u032e\u031f\u036d\u0300\u0302\u030a\u0313\u036a\u0305\u034a\u033e\u030a\u0357\u0306\u0311\u0308\u0345R\u0316\u033a\u0355\u032d\u0356\u034d\u032d\u0339\u0316\u032d\u0365\u034b\u030a\u036f\u0313\u036d\u0313\u036d\u034b\u0308\u2019\u0337\u0322\u036b\u030el\u0328\u0330\u0324\u0318\u0329\u0356\u0354\u0330\u0320\u031d\u034d\u0324\u0317\u032b\u031c\u034c\u034a\u033e\u035b\u036c\u034c\u033e\u036b\u033e\u0364\u0346\u0304\u0306\u031a\u0315\u0362y\u031c\u0331\u034e\u0318\u031f\u032c\u0349\u0326\u031c\u0347\u0320\u030b\u033d\u036e\u036a\u030a\u0300\u0367\u036e\u0303\u0363\u0352eh\u0355\u032c\u033b\u033a\u032a\u0325\u0349\u0354\u0356\u0324\u0354\u0330 \u0336\u0322\u0356\u0354\u033c\u0317\u0329\u0353\u034d\u0353\u0317\u0326\u0316\u032a\u0356\u0354\u035ew\u0327\u035dg\u0337\u032f\u0332\u034e\u035a\u0332\u0356\u032f\u0317\u0349\u0313\u0350\u0311\u036a\u0369\u0303\u0351\u033e\u0365\u0310\u0345\u00e1\u032b\u031c\u031f\u033a\u033c\u0354\u0317\u032a\u031f\u032c\u032b\u0367\u0346\u0357\u034b\u0363\u0342\u033f\u030c\u0342\u0309h\u0333\u032e\u0326\u0339\u0333\u0354\u0331\u031c\u0326\u035b\u0364\u0306\u0303\u036a\u030a\u0304\u030e\u0352\u0367\u0345\u2019\u0327\u030a\u036f\u030b\u0351\u033e\u035cn\u0324\u033a\u0323\u0333\u0318\u0326\u0356\u034d\u032b\u0326a\u031d\u0320\u034d\u034e\u034d\u0359\u0347\u0324\u032e\u0354\u0323\u036e\u0313\u030d\u0300\u0351\u036c\u0310\u034a\u030d\u0351\u0352g\u0348\u0348\u032b\u031e\u0339l\u0318\u0329\u031c\u033b\u0333\u031e\u0330\u032c\u033b\u034e \u0335\u031b\u0316\u0333\u032e\u0348\u0339\u0324\u0323\u0333\u0348\u033c\u0346\u0367\u0342\u0314\u0308\u0357\u0352\u0313\u030c\u036c\u031a\u0345f\u034d\u034e\u033d\u030c\u035e\u035eh\u0330\u031f\u033c\u0317\u032c\u0320\u0348\u032d\u035a\u031f\u0356\u032a\u0348\u0323\u0313\u035b\u030e\u0366\u030f\u0365\u033f\u0350\u0313\u0306\u0301\u0314\u0365\u0310\u0301\u035dt\u1e01\u0335\u0336\u031d\u0324\u0329\u0333\u031e\u0325\u034e\u031c\u0319\u0300\u0357\u0300\u0313\u0350\u0352\u0357\u0310\u0365\u0303\u0352\u0300\u0345g\u032e\u0354\u031f\u0360n\u031b\u030e\u0311\u036c\u033d\u0308\u0300\u035d<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>That\u2019s not an image! Each character there is an ordinary letter or apostrophe or space, with a bunch of diacritics added to it. So you can copy and paste it just like ordinary text.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u2026I feel like it\u2019s worth noting that doing this kind of thing can imply that diacritics are something weird or alien, and that more than one diacritic on a letter is even more so, and thus that (for example) Vietnamese is weird or alien. I feel like Zalgo text goes far enough in adding diacritics that it reaches a point of absurdity; no real-world language stacks five diacritics above a letter and five more below it. Zalgo text often adds so many diacritics that it becomes unreadable. To me, before I found out how Zalgo text was created, it wasn\u2019t even clear that the markings were diacritics. But even so, I think it behooves us to be wary about this kind of thing.<\/p>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diacritics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18751"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18760,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18751\/revisions\/18760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}