bottomtilde

Bottomtilde, or tilde below, refers to a diacritic mark placed beneath a base character. In typography and linguistic transcription, it is typically realized as a combining diacritic known as the combining tilde below. When applied, it modifies the pronunciation or value of the base letter according to the conventions of a particular language or transcription system.

In Unicode, the combining tilde below is U+0330. It is designed to be added to a wide range of base characters and can be used in concert with other diacritics. Because it is a combining mark, its exact appearance and legibility depend on the font and rendering engine. Some fonts render the tilde clearly beneath the letter, while others may produce visual clashes or misalignment.

The specific meaning of a bottom tilde is not universal. Different languages and phonetic schemes assign different values to this diacritic; it may indicate features such as a secondary articulation, nasalization, or other phonetic modifiers depending on the orthography being used. As with other diacritics, its interpretation is determined by the linguistic or editorial system in which it appears.

In digital text workflows, bottom tilde is typically represented by the base character followed by the combining tilde below. Care should be taken to ensure fonts and input methods support the combining mark to avoid rendering issues. See also: tilde, diacritic, combining diacritic, Unicode, IPA.