ΔDelta symbol
Greek capital delta — change in maths, difference in engineering.
- Unicode
- U+394
- Alt code
- Alt+916
- HTML
- Δ
- Unicode name
- Greek Capital Letter Delta
Where the Delta symbol comes from
Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet, and its mathematical career began with Leibniz and the calculus of differences. The capital Δ came to mean “the change in”, which is now so standard that river deltas are named after the letter’s shape rather than the other way around.
Δt for elapsed time, ΔV in physics, delta in finance for rate of change, and in software for the difference between two versions. Almost always paired with another symbol rather than used alone.
Delta symbol codes
Four notations, one result: whatever you copy here comes out as U+394.
How to type Δ on any keyboard
Four ways, depending on what you are working in.
Will Δ actually show up?
We checked 147 fonts installed on a normal machine and counted how many of them contain this character. A symbol missing from a font is drawn as an empty box — the text is still correct, it just cannot be drawn.
Safe in most places. Common fonts have it. Older or decorative fonts sometimes do not, so a fallback font will kick in.
Symbols people confuse with Δ
Lookalikes that are not the same character at all — separate codes, separate fonts, and here they number 8.
Other Greek letters used as symbols
The rest of the family, one page each — origin, typing routes and font support, across all 5.
Greek letters
Alpha to omega, the alphabet science borrowed.