U+0102 · U+0103
Breve
a curved bowl
The form required in Romanian. Its centre descends smoothly; there is no corner.
correct in Romanian
A typographic investigation
The hat on ă
The Romanian Academy calls it a “căciulă”. Unicode calls it a breve. On all eight Romanian denominations in circulation, the mark is drawn as a point.
On banknotes, Ă went from no mark to the wrong one: first absent, then recovered as a point and retained.
Raise the lensU+0102 · U+0103Breve · a curved bowl
U+01CD · U+01CECaron · a pointed V
U+00C3 · U+00E3Tilde · a wave
01 · Three shapes, three characters
The curve, the point, and the wave are not the same mark
At small sizes they look related. Enlarged, they follow different geometries. Move the mark without changing the base letter.
U+01CD · U+01CE
Caron
a pointed V
A separate character, used among other things for the third tone in pinyin.
a different character
U+00C3 · U+00E3
Tilde
a wave
A separate character, familiar from Portuguese. It changes direction twice.
a different character
Google Fonts states the rule plainly: a breve should not be reused as a caron. Google Fonts ↗
02 · The banknote audit
Eight denominations. The same point.
We checked the 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 lei fronts in the NBR official catalogue. In every “BANCA NAȚIONALĂ A ROMÂNIEI” inscription, the mark above the final Ă has a pointed centre and near-straight sides — the geometry of a caron.
Official NBR details · monochrome · enlarged far beyond real scale
1 leu
caron-like form
5 lei
caron-like form
10 lei
caron-like form
20 lei
caron-like form
50 lei
caron-like form
100 lei
caron-like form
200 lei
caron-like form
500 lei
caron-like form
Only monochrome, highly enlarged fragments are reproduced for analysis. No complete banknote and no colour reproduction at 1:1 scale appears. Law no. 312/2004 ↗
The banknote genealogy
How Ă got the wrong hat
Scans of successive issues show something stranger than a single drawing mistake. In 1991 all diacritics are absent. From 1999 to 2003, some return while the final A in NAȚIONALA remains bare. With the new leu, the mark appears as a point and is carried forward in the graphic family.
-
1991
direct visual observation
No diacritics
BANCA NATIONALA A ROMANIEI
On the 500 lei note, Ț, Â, and Ă are all absent.
-
1999
direct visual observation
Diacritics, partially restored
BANCA NAȚIONALA A ROMÂNIEI
The commemorative 2,000 lei note renders Ț and  while the final A remains unmarked.
-
2000–2003
sample of three scans
The final A remains bare
NAȚIONALA
The same formula appears in the three verified examples from the new polymer family.
-
2005
visual observation and official document
The mark appears as a point
NAȚIONALĂ
With the new leu, the inscription is complete and the mark above the final A has a caron-like form.
-
2021
visual observation and official document
A new denomination, the same form
NAȚIONALĂ
The 20 lei banknote enters circulation carrying the same pointed mark.
-
2026
documented continuity
The graphics are carried forward
NAȚIONALĂ
The signatures and date are new; the circular states that every other graphic element remains unchanged.
The visible history is: absent, recovered in the wrong shape, then retained. It describes the printed result without assuming the character, font, or intention in the production file. Circular no. 14/2026 ↗
03 · A digital accident
The wrong hat inside the word for “hat”
In an article about Bucharest published on 15 January 2026, The Times called the traditional Romanian hat “caciulǎ”. The first breve is missing, while the final letter is ǎ, A with caron, U+01CE, instead of ă, A with breve, U+0103.
A Romanian reader repairs the word immediately. A system comparing character strings sees different text.
Read the Times article
published
caciulǎ
ǎ · U+01CE
correct
căciulă
ă · U+0103
04 · Drawing, not code
A banknote contains no character we can query
In a digital document we can test whether memory contains U+0102 or U+01CD. On a banknote we only see the final drawing. The accurate conclusion is therefore “caron-like form”, not “the NBR encoded the wrong character”.
The classification compares geometry: continuous curve for a breve, angular centre for a caron, wave for a tilde.
Romanian Ș and Ț passed through a related confusion between the comma and the cedilla. That case is documented separately in “The comma”. See the Ș/Ț case ↗
Breve
Caron
Tilde
05 · Control sample
Fonts moved forward. The banknotes stood still.
We analysed 87 text, display, and mono families served by Google Fonts in a technical sample prepared on 30 July 2026. It is not a popularity chart; it is a reproducible check of the files.
- 86 / 87files contain Ă and ă
- 0Ă/ă outlines identical to the caron form
- 0Ă/ă outlines identical to the tilde form
- 1file missing the precomposed letter: Lato
This does not mean every digital occurrence is correct: missing fonts, fallback, and careless drawing can still create other failures. It only says that caron/tilde substitution is no longer the rule in this sample.
Download the audit data (JSON)06 · What should change
The next redesign needs a one-sentence brief
Keep the letter Ă and draw a curved breve above it, without a point.
It is a microscopic correction, but a fitting one for an object that carries the issuing institution’s name billions of times. The hat is not decoration. It is part of the letter.
Method and limits
What we checked, and what we cannot claim
- Current banknotes
- Nine official front images from the NBR catalogue: eight denominations and both 10 lei designs. The product uses the 2008 10 lei design.
- Genealogy
- Five public-domain historical scans from 1991, 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003, plus official documents for the 2005, 2021, and 2026 issues. Claims about 2000–2003 cover only the three verified examples.
- Classification
- Manual enlarged visual inspection compared with the Unicode forms. We do not infer the artwork’s source code.
- The Times
- The form caciulǎ was checked in the published text; its final letter is ǎ, U+01CE LATIN SMALL LETTER A WITH CARON.
- 2026 issue
- Graphic continuity is documented by article 2 of Circular no. 14/2026, not inferred from a photograph.
- Fonts
- 87 TTF files; cmap coverage and exact comparison of decomposed outlines for ă, ǎ, and ã with fontTools.
- Reproduction
- Monochrome, highly enlarged fragments used for information; no full banknotes and no 1:1 scale.
The audit classifies the visible shape, not the designer’s intention. The font sample does not estimate market share and does not judge every historical release of each family.
Sources
Official documents before opinions
Sources were checked on 30 July 2026. Official documents establish the mark names, the graphics in circulation, and continuity of the issue; historical articles show that the problem had been noticed before.
-
01
Romanian Academy — The Romanian language
Calls the mark above ă the “căciulă” (the shortness mark).
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
02
Unicode — Latin Extended-A
U+0102/U+0103: A with breve; decomposition with U+0306.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
03
Unicode — Latin Extended-B
U+01CD/U+01CE: A with caron, a separate character.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
04
Unicode — Latin-1 Supplement
U+00C3/U+00E3: A with tilde, a separate character.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
05
Google Fonts — Diacritics
Explicitly recommends that a breve not be reused as a caron.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
06
NBR — Banknotes in circulation
The official catalogue and the fronts used in the audit.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
07
NBR Circular no. 14/2026
The 2026 issue retains all other graphic elements.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
08
NBR Circular no. 14/2005
Establishes the new leu issue placed in circulation on 1 July 2005.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
09
NBR Circular no. 28/2021
Establishes the introduction of the 20 lei banknote on 1 December 2021.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
10
Law no. 312/2004, article 14
Protection of banknote graphics and the colour 1:1 reproduction rule.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
11
Cristian “Kit” Paul — Romanian diacritic marks
The campaign that documented the issue as early as 2008.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
12
Lavinia Gliga, DoR — Why we need diacritical marks
The 2011 article on the caron-like ă on the 10 lei note.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
13
Wikimedia Commons — 500 lei, 1991, front
Public-domain scan; the NBR inscription appears without diacritics.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
14
Wikimedia Commons — 2,000 lei, 1999, front
Public-domain scan; Ț and  appear while the final A remains unmarked.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
15
Wikimedia Commons — 500,000 lei, 2000, front
One of the three verified examples from the 2000–2003 polymer series.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
16
Wikimedia Commons — 100,000 lei, 2001, front
Verified example in which the final A in NAȚIONALA remains unmarked.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
17
Wikimedia Commons — 1,000,000 lei, 2003, front
The third verified example from the series before redenomination.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
18
Anna Murphy, The Times — The fashion director’s weekend in Bucharest
Article dated 15 January 2026 that prints caciulǎ, ending in ǎ U+01CE.
Accessed 30 July 2026 -
19
The comma — why Romanian Ș and Ț use a comma, not a cedilla
The mirror case: visually close marks with different characters and histories.
Accessed 30 July 2026