Tilde Symbol ~ Copy and Paste

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~

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Related Tilde Characters

• ~ — Tilde (standard ASCII)
• ≈ — Almost Equal To (mathematical tilde)
• ≃ — Asymptotically Equal To
• ≅ — Approximately Equal To
• ˜ — Small Tilde (combining character)
• ∼ — Tilde Operator (math)
• ñas — Tilde over N (Spanish ñ)

Unicode and Technical Details

• Unicode: U+007E (ASCII tilde)
• HTML Entity: ~ or ˜
• ASCII: 126
• Name: TILDE
• LaTeX: \textasciitilde or \sim

What Does the Tilde Mean?

In Mathematics

The tilde has several mathematical meanings:

• Approximately (~): "x ~ 5" means x is approximately 5
• Almost equal (≈): Pi ≈ 3.14159
• Equivalence relation (~): Two objects are equivalent under some relation
• Asymptotic behavior: f(x) ~ g(x) means f and g have the same growth rate
• Negation (in logic): ~P means "not P"

In the Spanish Language

The tilde over the letter n (ñ) creates a distinct sound in Spanish — the "eñe." The letter ñ represents a palatal nasal sound, similar to the "ny" in "canyon." It is a separate letter in the Spanish alphabet, not just an n with a decoration. Common Spanish words with ñ include:

• español — Spanish
• año — year
• niño — child
• señor — sir / Mr.
• pequeño — small

In Computing and Programming

The tilde has many uses in computing:

• Home directory: In Unix/Linux/macOS, ~ represents the user's home directory (e.g., ~/Documents)
• Bitwise NOT: In C, C++, JavaScript, and Python, ~x flips all bits in x
• Regular expressions: In some regex flavors, ~ has special matching behavior
• Approximation in output: "~10 items" in a UI means approximately 10
• Deconstruction: In JavaScript, ~~x is a double bitwise NOT trick for fast floor operation

In URLs and the Web

The tilde in URLs traditionally indicated a personal webpage on a server:

• example.com/~username — a personal page hosted on a university or ISP server
• This convention was common in the 1990s and early 2000s, when ISPs provided personal web space
• In URL encoding, the tilde is %7E

In Everyday Writing

Informally, the tilde is used to mean:

• Approximately: "The trip takes ~2 hours"
• About: "~50 people attended"
• Range: "10~20 items" (between 10 and 20)
• Casual tone: In some online communities, adding ~ at the end of a sentence makes it sound softer or playful

How to Type the Tilde

Windows

• The tilde key is in the upper-left corner of the keyboard, to the left of the 1 key
• Press Shift + ` (the backtick key) to type ~
• For Spanish ñ: Hold Alt and type 164 on the numpad for ñ, or 165 for Ñ

Mac

• Press Shift + ` (the key above Tab) to type ~
• For ñ: Press Option+N, then type N

iPhone and Android

• On iPhone: Tap 123 then #+= to find the ~ symbol
• On Android: Tap ?123 then =\< to find ~

Tilde vs Minus vs Hyphen vs Dash

These characters look similar but have different meanings:

• - (hyphen) — joins words: "well-known"
• – (en dash) — ranges: "pages 10–20"
• — (em dash) — breaks: "The answer — surprisingly — was no"
• − (minus) — math: "5 − 3 = 2"
• ~ (tilde) — approximately: "~5 minutes"

Fun Facts About the Tilde

• The tilde originated as a mark over letters in medieval Latin manuscripts to indicate a missing letter (like an abbreviation mark)
• In Portuguese, the tilde appears over vowels (ã, õ) to indicate nasalization
• The Spanish ñ was originally a medieval abbreviation for "nn" — a small n was written over a capital N
• In mathematics, the tilde was popularized by Giuseppe Peano in the 1890s for logical negation
• In gaming, the tilde key (~) often opens the developer console (Quake, Half-Life, Skyrim, etc.)

Related Symbols

Explore more symbols in our guides for Ampersand Symbol &, Asterisk Symbol *, and Semicolon Symbol ;.