U030C

U+030C is the Unicode code point for the COMBINING CARON, a diacritic mark also known as a háček. It is a combining mark intended to be applied above the preceding base character to modify its pronunciation or to indicate a change in the letter’s phonetic value in various Latin-script languages.

As a combining diacritic, U+030C has the general category Mn (nonspacing mark) and resides in the Combining Diacritical Marks block of the Unicode range U+0300 to U+036F. It does not stand alone; it is intended to be rendered in combination with a base character, typically placed above the preceding letter. In text processing, it participates in normalization forms, especially those that distinguish decomposed (base letter plus U+030C) from precomposed characters.

Usage and examples: U+030C is widely used to form letters with a caron (háček) in languages such as Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, and Croatian. For example, combining U+030C with c yields the sequence c + U+030C to represent č, while many languages also have precomposed forms, such as U+010D for č, U+0161 for š, and U+017E for ž. Both decomposed and precomposed representations are supported in Unicode, with NFC preferred when possible.

Rendering and interoperability: Correct rendering depends on font support for the combining caron. Some environments may require proper font shaping to align the caron accurately with the base character. In text processing, care should be taken for operations like search, rendering, and normalization to handle both decomposed and composed forms.