Editing Dead key (section)

{{short description|Special kind of modifier keyboard key}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2015}}
A '''dead key''' is a special kind of [[modifier key]] on a mechanical [[typewriter]], or [[computer keyboard]], that is typically used to attach a specific [[diacritic]] to a base [[letter (alphabet)|letter]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dead%20key |title=Dead Key &#124; Definition of Dead Key by Merriam-Webster |publisher=Merriam-webster.com |access-date=2017-05-01}}</ref> The dead key does not generate a (complete) [[grapheme|character]] by itself, but modifies the character generated by the key struck immediately after. Thus, a dedicated key is not needed for each possible combination of a diacritic and a letter, but rather only one dead key for each diacritic is needed, in addition to the normal base letter keys.

For example, if a [[keyboard mapping]] (such as [[US international]]) has a dead key for the [[circumflex]],  {{char|^}}, the character {{char|â}} can be generated by first pressing {{keypress|^}} and then {{keypress|a}}.<ref>The Unicode Standard, version 8.0.0, ch.05, §12 Strategies for Handling Nonspacing Marks: Keyboard Input | https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode8.0.0/ch05.pdf#G1076</ref>  <!-- please do not add more examples, one is plenty to illustrate the point. -->

Usually, the diacritic itself can be generated as a free-standing character by pressing the dead key followed by ''space''; so a [[caret]] (free-standing circumflex) can be typed by pressing {{keypress|^}} and then {{keypress|Space}}.