Ă The hat on ă

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.

An error that has nearly vanished from contemporary fonts remains printed on the public object that changes hands every day.

Raise the lens
U+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+0102 · U+0103

Breve

a curved bowl

The form required in Romanian. Its centre descends smoothly; there is no corner.

correct in Romanian

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

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 1 leu banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

5 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 5 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

10 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 10 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

20 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 20 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

50 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 50 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

100 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 100 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

200 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 200 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

500 lei

caron-like form

Enlarged NAȚIONALĂ inscription from the 500 lei banknote, showing the pointed mark above Ă

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 ↗

Graphic continuity

The point passed from one issue to the next

We do not need a separate photograph of every 2026 note to know what happened to the inscription. The issue circular says all other graphic elements remain unchanged.

  1. 2005–2008

    The redenominated series is established and the 10 lei note is redesigned.

  2. 2018

    The coat of arms changes; every other graphic element remains unchanged.

  3. 2021

    The 20 lei note appears with the same pointed form in the inscription.

  4. 2026

    The signatures and date are new; every other graphic element remains unchanged.

The finding therefore remains current for the issue placed in circulation in 2026. Circular no. 14/2026 ↗

03 · 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.

Breve
Caron
Tilde

04 · 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)

05 · 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

Banknotes
Nine official front images from the NBR catalogue: eight denominations and both 10 lei designs. The product uses the 2008 10 lei design.
Classification
Manual enlarged visual inspection compared with the Unicode forms. We do not infer the artwork’s source code.
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.

  1. 01
    Romanian Academy — The Romanian language

    Calls the mark above ă the “căciulă” (the shortness mark).

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  2. 02
    Unicode — Latin Extended-A

    U+0102/U+0103: A with breve; decomposition with U+0306.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  3. 03
    Unicode — Latin Extended-B

    U+01CD/U+01CE: A with caron, a separate character.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  4. 04
    Unicode — Latin-1 Supplement

    U+00C3/U+00E3: A with tilde, a separate character.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  5. 05
    Google Fonts — Diacritics

    Explicitly recommends that a breve not be reused as a caron.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  6. 06
    NBR — Banknotes in circulation

    The official catalogue and the fronts used in the audit.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  7. 07
    NBR Circular no. 14/2026

    The 2026 issue retains all other graphic elements.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  8. 08
    Law no. 312/2004, article 14

    Protection of banknote graphics and the colour 1:1 reproduction rule.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  9. 09
    Cristian “Kit” Paul — Romanian diacritic marks

    The campaign that documented the issue as early as 2008.

    Accessed 30 July 2026
  10. 10
    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