diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index f4f1e89..635307c 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ enum Line<'a> {
     ModuleStart(&'a str),
     ModuleEnd,
     Symbol(&'a str, Option<char>),
-    Variant(&'a str, char),
+    Variant(ModifierSet<&'a str>, char),
 }
 
 fn main() {
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ fn tokenize(line: &str) -> StrResult<Line> {
             validate_ident(part)?;
         }
         let c = decode_char(tail.ok_or("missing char")?)?;
-        Line::Variant(rest, c)
+        Line::Variant(ModifierSet(rest), c)
     } else {
         validate_ident(head)?;
         let c = tail.map(decode_char).transpose()?;
@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ fn parse<'a>(
 
                 let symbol = if variants.len() > 0 {
                     if let Some(c) = c {
-                        variants.insert(0, ("", c));
+                        variants.insert(0, (ModifierSet::empty(), c));
                     }
                     Symbol::Multi(variants)
                 } else {
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 0787444..4d208f3 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 /*!
 Human-friendly notation for Unicode symbols.
+
+## Model
+A [`Symbol`] is a collection of one or more _variants_.
+Each variant is identified by a set of _modifiers_ (see [`ModifierSet`])
+and has a single character as its value.
+The modifiers themselves can in principle be any non-empty strings
+that don't contain the character `.`, but codex only defines
+ones that are entirely made of ASCII alphabetical characters.
 */
 
 include!("shared.rs");
@@ -26,6 +34,47 @@ impl Module {
     }
 }
 
+impl<'a> ModifierSet<&'a str> {
+    /// Iterate over the list of modifiers with the original lifetime.
+    pub fn to_iter(self) -> impl Iterator<Item = &'a str> {
+        self.0.split('.').filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
+    }
+}
+
+impl Symbol {
+    /// Get the symbol's character for a given set of modifiers.
+    pub fn get(&self, modifs: ModifierSet<&str>) -> Option<char> {
+        match self {
+            Self::Single(c) => modifs.is_empty().then_some(*c),
+            Self::Multi(list) => modifs.best_match_in(list.iter().copied()),
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// The characters that are covered by this symbol.
+    pub fn variants(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = (ModifierSet<&str>, char)> {
+        enum Variants {
+            Single(std::iter::Once<char>),
+            Multi(std::slice::Iter<'static, (ModifierSet<&'static str>, char)>),
+        }
+        let mut iter = match self {
+            Self::Single(c) => Variants::Single(std::iter::once(*c)),
+            Self::Multi(sl) => Variants::Multi(sl.iter()),
+        };
+        std::iter::from_fn(move || match &mut iter {
+            Variants::Single(iter) => Some((ModifierSet::empty(), iter.next()?)),
+            Variants::Multi(iter) => iter.next().copied(),
+        })
+    }
+
+    /// Possible modifiers for this symbol.
+    pub fn modifiers(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = &str> + '_ {
+        self.variants()
+            .flat_map(|(m, _)| m.to_iter())
+            .collect::<std::collections::BTreeSet<_>>()
+            .into_iter()
+    }
+}
+
 /// A module that contains the other top-level modules.
 pub const ROOT: Module = Module(&[
     ("emoji", Binding::new(Def::Module(EMOJI))),
diff --git a/src/shared.rs b/src/shared.rs
index f4327c6..9407aab 100644
--- a/src/shared.rs
+++ b/src/shared.rs
@@ -1,12 +1,14 @@
+use std::ops::{AddAssign, Deref};
+
 macro_rules! declare_types {
     ($(<$lt:lifetime>)?
         $(derive($($Der:ident),*),)?
         str = $s:ty,
-        List = $L:ident<_>
+        List = $List:ident<_>
     ) => {
         /// A module of definitions.
         $(#[derive($($Der),*)])?
-        pub struct Module<$($lt)?>($L<($s, Binding<$($lt)?>)>);
+        pub struct Module<$($lt)?>($List<($s, Binding<$($lt)?>)>);
 
         /// A definition bound in a module, with metadata.
         $(#[derive($($Der),*)])?
@@ -38,8 +40,109 @@ macro_rules! declare_types {
         pub enum Symbol<$($lt)?> {
             /// A symbol without modifiers.
             Single(char),
-            /// A symbol with named modifiers. The symbol defaults to its first variant.
-            Multi($L<($s, char)>),
+            /// A symbol with named modifiers.
+            /// The symbol defaults to its first variant.
+            Multi($List<(ModifierSet<$s>, char)>),
         }
     };
 }
+
+/// A set of modifiers.
+#[derive(Debug, Copy, Clone)]
+pub struct ModifierSet<S>(S);
+
+impl<S: Deref<Target = str>> ModifierSet<S> {
+    /// Convert the underlying string to a slice.
+    pub fn as_deref(&self) -> ModifierSet<&str> {
+        ModifierSet(&self.0)
+    }
+
+    /// Construct a modifier set from a string,
+    /// where modifiers are separated by the character `.`.
+    ///
+    /// It is not unsafe to use this function wrongly, but it can produce
+    /// unexpected results down the line. Correct usage should ensure that
+    /// `s` does not contain any empty modifiers (i.e. the sequence `..`)
+    /// and that no modifier occurs twice.
+    pub fn new_unchecked(s: S) -> Self {
+        Self(s)
+    }
+
+    /// Construct an empty modifier set.
+    pub fn empty() -> Self
+    where
+        S: Default,
+    {
+        Self(S::default())
+    }
+
+    /// Whether `self` is empty.
+    pub fn is_empty(&self) -> bool {
+        self.0.is_empty()
+    }
+
+    /// Add a modifier to the set, without checking that it is a valid modifier.
+    ///
+    /// It is not unsafe to use this method wrongly, but that can produce
+    /// unexpected results down the line. Correct usage should ensure that
+    /// `modifier` is not empty and doesn't contain the character `.`.
+    pub fn add_unchecked(&mut self, m: &str)
+    where
+        S: for<'a> AddAssign<&'a str>,
+    {
+        if !self.0.is_empty() {
+            self.0 += ".";
+        }
+        self.0 += m;
+    }
+
+    /// Iterate over the list of modifiers in an arbitrary order.
+    pub fn iter(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = &str> {
+        self.0.split('.').filter(|s| !s.is_empty())
+    }
+
+    /// Whether the set contains the modifier `m`.
+    pub fn contains(&self, m: &str) -> bool {
+        self.iter().any(|lhs| lhs == m)
+    }
+
+    /// Whether all modifiers in `self` are also present in `other`.
+    pub fn is_subset(&self, other: ModifierSet<&str>) -> bool {
+        self.iter().all(|m| other.contains(m))
+    }
+
+    /// Find the best match from the list.
+    ///
+    /// To be considered a match, the modifier set must be a superset of
+    /// (or equal to) `self`. Among different matches, the best one is selected
+    /// by the following two criteria (in order):
+    /// 1. Number of modifiers in common with `self` (more is better).
+    /// 2. Total number of modifiers (fewer is better).
+    pub fn best_match_in<'a, T>(
+        &self,
+        variants: impl Iterator<Item = (ModifierSet<&'a str>, T)>,
+    ) -> Option<T> {
+        let mut best = None;
+        let mut best_score = None;
+
+        // Find the best table entry with this name.
+        for candidate in variants.filter(|(set, _)| self.is_subset(*set)) {
+            let mut matching = 0;
+            let mut total = 0;
+            for modifier in candidate.0.iter() {
+                if self.contains(modifier) {
+                    matching += 1;
+                }
+                total += 1;
+            }
+
+            let score = (matching, core::cmp::Reverse(total));
+            if best_score.map_or(true, |b| score > b) {
+                best = Some(candidate.1);
+                best_score = Some(score);
+            }
+        }
+
+        best
+    }
+}