Unicode subscripts and superscripts

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The difference between subscript/superscript and numerator/denominator glyphs. In many popular fonts the Unicode "subscript" and "superscript" characters are actually numerator and denominator glyphs.





This was not the intended use of these characters when Unicode was designed. The intended use was to allow chemical and algebra formulas to be written without markup. Proper appearance of these requires true superscript and subscript, H2O probably looks better using a subscript markup than using these characters (H₂O).

Another Unicode character, the fraction slash U+2044 is visually similar to the solidus, but when used with the ordinary digits (not the superscripts and subscripts) was intended to tell a layout system that a fraction, such as ¹¹⁄₁₂, is preferred.[2] Most font layout systems do not actually produce this.

Superscripts and subscripts block[edit]


Unicode characters
Equivalent HTML markup
U+00Bx     x2 x3           x1            

Other superscript and subscript characters[edit]


  • The Combining Diacritical Marks block contains medieval superscript letter diacritics. These letters are written directly above other letters appearing in medieval Germanic manuscripts, and so these glyphs do not include spacing, for example uͤ. They are shown here over a long string of periods: ....ͣ...ͤ...ͥ...ͦ...ͧ...ͨ...ͩ...ͪ...ͫ...ͬ...ͭ...ͮ...ͯ..
  • The Phonetic Extensions block has several sub- and super-scripted letters and symbols: ᴬ ᴭ ᴮ ᴯ ᴰ ᴱ ᴲ ᴳ ᴴ ᴵ ᴶ ᴷ ᴸ ᴹ ᴺ ᴻ ᴼ ᴽ ᴾ ᴿ ᵀ ᵁ ᵂ ᵃ ᵄ ᵅ ᵆ ᵇ ᵈ ᵉ ᵊ ᵋ ᵌ ᵍ ᵎ ᵏ ᵐ ᵑ ᵒ ᵓ ᵔ ᵕ ᵖ ᵗ ᵘ ᵙ ᵚ ᵛ ᵜ ᵝ ᵞ ᵟ ᵠ ᵡ ᵢ ᵣ ᵤ ᵥ ᵦ ᵧ ᵨ ᵩ ᵪ ᵸ.
  • The Phonetic Extensions Supplement block has a few more: ᶛ ᶜ ᶝ ᶞ ᶟ ᶠ ᶡ ᶢ ᶣ ᶤ ᶥ ᶦ ᶧ ᶨ ᶩ ᶪ ᶫ ᶬ ᶭ ᶮ ᶯ ᶰ ᶱ ᶲ ᶳ ᶴ ᶵ ᶶ ᶷ ᶸ ᶹ ᶺ ᶻ ᶼ ᶽ ᶾ ᶿ.

Consolidated, the Unicode standard defines complete sub- and super-scripts for numbers and common mathematical symbols ( ⁰ ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ ⁺ ⁻ ⁼ ⁽ ⁾ ₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ ₅ ₆ ₇ ₈ ₉ ₊ ₋ ₌ ₍ ₎ ), a full superscript Latin lowercase alphabet except q ( ᵃ ᵇ ᶜ ᵈ ᵉ ᶠ ᵍ ʰ ⁱ ʲ ᵏ ˡ ᵐ ⁿ ᵒ ᵖ ʳ ˢ ᵗ ᵘ ᵛ ʷ ˣ ʸ ᶻ ), a limited uppercase Latin alphabet ( ᴬ ᴮ ᴰ ᴱ ᴳ ᴴ ᴵ ᴶ ᴷ ᴸ ᴹ ᴺ ᴼ ᴾ ᴿ ᵀ ᵁ ⱽ ᵂ ), a few subscripted lowercase letters ( ₐ ₑ ₕ ᵢ ⱼ ₖ ₗ ₘ ₙ ₒ ₚ ᵣ ₛ ₜ ᵤ ᵥ ₓ ), and some Greek letters ( ᵅ ᵝ ᵞ ᵟ ᵋ ᶿ ᶥ ᶲ ᵠ ᵡ ᵦ ᵧ ᵨ ᵩ ᵪ ). Note that since these characters come from different ranges, they may not be of the same size and position, depending on the typeface.

Composite characters[edit]

Primarily for compatibility with earlier character sets, Unicode contains a number of characters that composite super and subscripts along with other symbols. In most fonts these render much better than attempting to construct these symbols from the hereinbefore characters or by using markup.

