A maximal character sequence consisting of either a base character followed by a sequence of one or more characters where each is a combining character, zero width joiner, or zero width non-joiner; or a sequence of one or more characters where each is a combining character, zero width joiner, or zero width non-joiner.

• When identifying a combining character sequence in Unicode text, the definition of the combining character sequence is applied maximally. For example, in the sequence , the entire sequence is identified as the combining character sequence, rather than the alternative of identifying as a combining character sequence followed by a separate (defective) combining character sequence .