Adobe PS: circumflex
Unicode: 02C6, 0302
Script: Latin
Languages: Afrikaans, English, Esperanto, French, Inari Sámi, Lingala, Malagasy, Maltese, Norwegian, Pizzonese, Portuguese, Romanian, Skolt Sámi, Slovak, Turkish, Vietnamese, Walloon, Welsh, Yoruba
Circumflex
History and examples of use
It mostly denotes open and long vowels; in French â, ê, î, ô, û. In Slovak, it is used with ô. In Esperanto, with ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, and ŝ. In Welsh with â, ê, î, ô, û, ŵ, and ŷ. In both Portuguese and Vietnamese, the circumflex is used with â, ê and ô. In some African and Native North American tonal languages, like Yoruba, Lingala, and Kaska, it is used to mark falling tone on vowels or syllabic consonants.
Design
The circumflex is most commonly of the same shape as caron, only rotated by 180 degrees. If the caron is designed differently, both symbols should have the same weight, because they might appear side by side (for example in Slovak) and so they should harmonise with each other. Commonly the strokes of the circumflex narrow in the downward direction. Although symmetrical circumflex is more common, it might be asymmetric and stressed. In such case it is necessary to abide to the basic rules applying to drawing a typeface: the upwards directing stroke is thinner than the downwards one. Characters with circumflex are included in most western typefaces. Thus, there are many good examples as how to draw the circumflex correctly.