U+03BC · Greek and Coptic
Mu (μ)
The lowercase mu μ is the twelfth letter of the Greek alphabet. It is the SI prefix micro, meaning one millionth, as in μm and μs, and in statistics it denotes a population mean. Physicists use it for the coefficient of friction, magnetic permeability, and the muon. In Greek it makes the m sound.
Character codes
| Unicode code point | U+03BC | |
|---|---|---|
| Decimal | 956 | |
| HTML named entity | μ | |
| HTML (hex) | μ | |
| HTML (decimal) | μ | |
| CSS | \03BC | |
| JavaScript | \u03BC | |
| Python | \u03BC | |
| UTF-8 bytes | CE BC | |
| UTF-16 | 03BC | |
| URL-encoded | %CE%BC |
Character details
| Official name | GREEK SMALL LETTER MU |
|---|---|
| Unicode block | Greek and Coptic |
| General category | Lowercase Letter (Ll) |
| SymbolHero category | Greek Letters |
| Uppercase | Μ Greek Capital Letter Mu |
| Emoji | No |
How to type μ
Windows
- In Microsoft Word or Outlook: type
03BCthen press Alt + X. - Open Character Map (search “Character Map” in Start), tick “Advanced view”, search for “greek small letter mu”, then Select and Copy.
Mac
- Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search “greek small letter mu”, and double-click the result.
- With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type
03BC.
iPhone & Android
- Tap Copy at the top of this page, then long-press where you want it and choose Paste.
Docs & web
- Google Docs: Insert → Special characters, then search “greek small letter mu” or enter
U+03BC. - HTML:
μorμ - Excel / Google Sheets:
=UNICHAR(956)
Examples
- Particle size: 2.5 μm
- μ = 100, σ = 15
- Latency: 350 μs
- μ = 0.3 (friction)
Good to know
Don’t mix it up: It is almost identical to the micro sign µ (U+00B5), a legacy character from older encodings that Unicode normalization maps to this Greek letter.
Tip: Either character displays correctly for micro, but Unicode and the SI brochure favor the Greek μ (U+03BC) in new text.
Display: the character itself is always the same code point, but its shape comes from the font on the device showing it. If you see an empty box, the font lacks this glyph—the text is still correct.
Similar greek letters
Questions
What is the Unicode for μ?
It is U+03BC (GREEK SMALL LETTER MU), decimal 956.
Is there a Windows Alt code for it?
No standard Alt code exists for this character. In Word type 03BC then Alt+X, or copy it from this page.
How do I type it on a Mac?
There is no built-in Option shortcut. Use the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search “greek small letter mu”, or copy it from this page.
What is the HTML code?
Use the named entity μ or the numeric reference μ.