(phonetics,dated)A common ad hoc remedy for the lack of type for phonetic symbols on manual typewriters. A letter with the approximate sound would be typed, then the writer would hit backspace and overstrike a solidus on the letter.
Products of an overstruck solidus include: b̸ (IPA β), c̸ (t͡s), d̸ (ð), g̸ (ɣ), p̸ (ɸ), t̸ (θ), w̸ (ɰ), Luiseños̸ and the Mazahua vowel letters a̸e̸o̸u̸. It also works with the equals sign = for ≠ (IPA ǂ) and with zero for the null sign 0̸.
Unicode provides two characters differing only in size, for combining with upper-case or tall and with lower-case or short letters. (The long diacritic was used above; the same letters with the short diacritic are a̷b̷c̷d̷e̷g̷o̷p̷s̷t̷u̷w̷=̷0̷, as well as l̷.) However, font support is poor, and Unicode prefers to encode the resulting letters individually, if there is sufficient need, rather than to rely on the diacritics.