Number Symbols

Circled numbers ① to ㊿

Unicode has circled numbers ⓪ to ⑳ in one block and ㉑ to ㊿ in an East Asian block, so 21 and up can look a little different in size or style. Solid versions run from ❶ to ❿ and ⓫ to ⓴, and double-circled numbers ⓵ to ⓾ stop at 10.

Unicode's ordinary circled numbers stop at 50, so there's no ordinary circled character for 51 to 100. The only higher ones are ㉍ ㉎ ㉏ (60, 70, 80), speed-limit signs drawn on a black square. Circled numbers work well for steps, map labels and ranked lists in captions or posts where a real numbered list isn't available. The Unicode Standard encodes them as list bullets rather than ordinary digits, so a spreadsheet won't add ① and ②.

Superscript ² and subscript ₂ numbers

Superscript numbers sit above the line, for exponents (x², 10³) and footnote marks; subscript numbers sit below it, as in H₂O and CO₂. These are separate characters, so they stay small when you paste them into a text message or a social post, where you can't format text.

¹ ² ³ are in the Latin-1 block and ⁰ and ⁴ to ⁹ in a later block, so in some fonts ¹²³ look slightly different from ⁴⁵⁶. In a document, Unicode recommends formatting instead: select a normal number in Word or Google Docs and make it superscript (see the steps below). That looks more even, but the formatting is lost when the text is pasted as plain text.

Fractions ½ ¼ ¾

Unicode has single-character fractions for halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths and eighths, plus ⅐ ⅑ ⅒ and ↉. ½ ¼ ¾ are in almost every font; the others can look smaller or show as a box in some apps.

For any other fraction, Unicode provides the fraction slash ⁄, meant to go between ordinary digits (5⁄16); how that looks depends on the app and font. To make a fraction look small in plain text, put the fraction slash between a superscript and a subscript number, such as ⁵⁄₁₆, or simply write 5/16.

Roman numeral characters or letters?

Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ and the other Roman numeral characters are single symbols, so Ⅻ fits in one character space, which helps on clock faces and in narrow list labels. The Unicode Standard includes them for compatibility with East Asian standards and says ordinary Latin letters are preferable for most purposes.

Ordinary capital letters (I, V, X, L, C, D, M) are also easier to type and search for, so use them for chapter numbers, Super Bowl numbers and years.

The number sign #, numero № and ordinals

# is the number sign. In the US it's also called the pound sign (on a phone, the pound key), in the UK the hash, and on social media it starts a hashtag. Before a number it means number, as in #1 or Apt. #4. On a US keyboard, # is Shift + 3.

№ (numero sign) is a single character for No. In US English, No. or # is more usual.

º and ª are ordinal indicators from Spanish and Portuguese, as in 1º (primero) and 1ª (primera). º is a different character from the degree sign ° (U+00B0), so use ° for temperatures and angles. For English ordinals, the small letters ˢᵗ ⁿᵈ ʳᵈ ᵗʰ make 1ˢᵗ 2ⁿᵈ 3ʳᵈ 4ᵗʰ in plain text, but they can sit at uneven heights in some fonts.

How to type number symbols

Copying from this page works on any device. These built-in options also work.

1. Windows: hold Alt and type the code on the numeric keypad, with Num Lock on: 0185 for ¹, 0178 for ², 0179 for ³, 0189 for ½, 0188 for ¼, 0190 for ¾ or 0186 for º.
2. Word for Windows: type a Unicode code and press Alt + X right after it, such as 2460 for ①, 2116 for №, 2153 for ⅓ or 2160 for Ⅰ. To make a normal number small, select it and press Ctrl + Shift + Plus sign (+) for superscript or Ctrl + Shift + Minus sign (-) for subscript.
3. Word for Mac: select the number and press Command + Shift + Plus sign (+) for superscript or Command + Shift + Minus sign (-) for subscript.
4. Google Docs: select a number and press Ctrl + . (period) for superscript or Ctrl + , (comma) for subscript; on a Mac, use ⌘ instead of Ctrl.
5. Mac: choose Edit > Emoji & Symbols (or press Fn/Globe + E) and search for circled, superscript or fraction.
6. iPhone and Android: number emoji such as 1️⃣ and 🔟 are on the emoji keyboard. Some keyboards also offer ¹ ² ³ or fractions when you touch and hold a number key; if yours doesn't, copy them from this page.
7. HTML: ² gives ², ½ gives ½ and № gives №; for others, use the code point, such as ① for ①.

Sources and standards

• Unicode — The Unicode Standard, Chapter 22: Symbols
• Unicode — Enclosed Alphanumerics code chart (U+2460–U+24FF)
• Unicode — Enclosed CJK Letters and Months code chart (U+3200–U+32FF)
• Unicode — Superscripts and Subscripts code chart (U+2070–U+209F)
• Unicode — Number Forms code chart (U+2150–U+218F)
• Unicode — Microsoft Windows code page 1252 mapping
• Microsoft — Insert ASCII or Unicode Latin-based symbols and characters
• Microsoft — Keyboard shortcuts in Word
• Microsoft — Format text as superscript or subscript in Word
• Google — Keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs
• Apple — Use emoji and symbols on Mac
• WHATWG — HTML named character references

Frequently asked questions