The terminator of a dead key is the character that it produces when the next key has no output in the dead key state. That is a complicated statement, but the idea is quite simple. Normally, a dead key affects the output produced by the next key, such as adding an accent. For example, with the US keyboard layout, option-u adds a diaresis (umlaut, trema) to a following letter, so option-u followed by y produces ÿ. But, if the next key press doesn't have an output defined for that dead key, then the keyboard produces the terminator. So option-u followed by 3 produces ¨3. In this case, the terminator is the accent by itself. A terminator can be an empty string, so that no output is produced from the dead key when the next key has no output defined for the dead key state. Next page Up to "Dead Keys"