Unicode subscripts and superscripts#Latin, Greek and Cyrillic tables

File:Sub super num dem.svgs the Unicode "superscript" and "subscript" characters are actually numerator and denominator glyphs.]]

The intended use when these characters were added to Unicode was to produce true superscripts and subscripts so that chemical and algebraic formulas could be written without markup. Thus "H₂O" (using a subscript 2 character) is supposed to be identical to "H₂O" (with subscript markup).

In reality, many fonts that include these characters ignore the Unicode definition, and instead design the digits for mathematical numerator and denominator glyphs,{{Cite web|date=December 27, 2021|title=fraction {{!}} Dart Package |url=https://pub.dev/packages/fraction |access-date=September 21, 2022 |website=Dart packages}}{{Cite web |date=March 30, 2021 |title=MathML {{!}} General layout elements {{!}} Fractions |url=https://www.data2type.de/xml-xslt-xslfo/math-ml/presentation-markup/layout-elements/fractions |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128015254/https://www.data2type.de/xml-xslt-xslfo/math-ml/presentation-markup/layout-elements/fractions/ |archive-date=January 28, 2021 |url-status=dead|access-date=January 13, 2022 |website=data2type GmbH |language=de-DE}} which are aligned with the cap line and the baseline, respectively. When used with the solidus or the Fraction Slash, they produce an almost typographically correct diagonal fraction, such as ³/₄ for the ¾ glyph. Super and subscript markup does not produce a correct fraction (compare markup ³/₄ with precomposed ¾). The change also makes the superscript letters useful for ordinal indicators, more closely matching the ª and º characters.

Unicode intended that diagonal fractions be rendered by a different mechanism: the fraction slash U+2044 is visually similar to the solidus, but when used with the ordinary digits (not the superscripts and subscripts), it instructs the layout system that a fraction such as ¾ is to be rendered using automatic glyph substitution.{{cite web |url=https://www.w3.org/TR/unicode-xml/#Fraction |title=Fraction Slash |author=Martin Dürst, Asmus Freytag |date=May 16, 2007 |publisher=W3C |access-date=September 13, 2010}}For a general overview and technical information on glyph substitution (though not specifically for fractions), see [https://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/gsub.htm GSUB — Glyph Substitution Table] in the [https://www.microsoft.com/typography/otspec/default.htm OpenType specification] on the [https://www.microsoft.com/typography/default.mspx Microsoft Typography site]. User-end support was quite poor for a number of years, but fonts,Such as Andika, Arno Pro, Brill, Brioso Pro, Calibri, Candara, Carlito, Cantarell, FiraGO, EB Garamond, Gentium Book, Lato, Linux Libertine, Noto Sans, Noto Serif, Open Sans and Yrsa browsers,Such as Chrome, Firefox and Falkon word processors,Such as LibreOffice Writer desktop publishing softwareSuch as Adobe InDesign and Scribus and others increasingly support the intended Unicode behavior. This browser and your default font render it as 3⁄4. (See Slash (punctuation)#Fractions for rendering in various other fonts.)

{{main|Superscripts and Subscripts (Unicode block)}}

The most common superscript digits (1, 2, and 3) were included in ISO-8859-1 and were therefore carried over into those code points in the Latin-1 range of Unicode. The remainder were placed along with basic arithmetical symbols, and later some Latin subscripts, in a dedicated block at {{U+|2070}} to U+209F. The table below shows these characters together. Each superscript or subscript character is preceded by a baseline x to show the height of subscripting/superscripting.

Six code points in the "Superscripts and Subscripts" block are unassigned, and remain available for future characters. {{As of|2024|11|post=,|url=https://www.unicode.org/alloc/Pipeline.html}} three of these (209D, 209E, and 209F) were provisionally assigned to new subscript characters, namely Latin lowercase w, y, and z.{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24221.htm#181-C35 |title=Approved Minutes of UTC Meeting 181 |date=2025-01-27 |publisher=Unicode Consortium |accessdate=2025-03-08 }}

{{legend|silver|outline=#aaa|Not yet assigned.}}

{{legend|#ececec|outline=#aaa|Other characters from Latin-1 not related to super- or sub-scripts.}}

Unicode also includes codepoints for subscript and superscript characters that are intended for semantic usage, in the following blocks:{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/ucd/Scripts.txt |title=UCD: Scripts.txt|work=The Unicode Standard |access-date=September 21, 2022}}

;Superscript

• The Latin-1 Supplement block contains the feminine and masculine ordinal indicators ª and º.
• The Latin Extended-C block contains one superscript, ⱽ.
• The Latin Extended-D block contains six superscripts: ꝰ ꟲ ꟳ ꟴ ꟸ ꟹ.
• The Latin Extended-E block contains five superscripts: ꭜ ꭝ ꭞ ꭟ ꭩ.
• The Latin Extended-F block is entirely superscript IPA letters: 𐞁 𐞂 𐞃 𐞄 𐞅 𐞇 𐞈 𐞉 𐞊 𐞋 𐞌 𐞍 𐞎 𐞏 𐞐 𐞑 𐞒 𐞓 𐞔 𐞕 𐞖 𐞗 𐞘 𐞙 𐞚 𐞛 𐞜 𐞝 𐞞 𐞟 𐞠 𐞡 𐞢 𐞣 𐞤 𐞥 𐞦 𐞧 𐞨 𐞩 𐞪 𐞫 𐞬 𐞭 𐞮 𐞯 𐞰 𐞲 𐞳 𐞴 𐞵 𐞶 𐞷 𐞸 𐞹 𐞺.
• The Spacing Modifier Letters block has superscripted letters and symbols used for phonetic transcription: ʰ ʱ ʲ ʳ ʴ ʵ ʶ ʷ ʸ ˀ ˁ ˠ ˡ ˢ ˣ ˤ.
• The Phonetic Extensions block has several superscripted letters and symbols: Latin/IPA 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 ᵏ ᵐ ᵑ ᵒ ᵓ ᵖ ᵗ ᵘ ᵚ ᵛ, Greek ᵝ ᵞ ᵟ ᵠ ᵡ, Cyrillic ᵸ, other ᵎ ᵔ ᵕ ᵙ ᵜ. These are intended to indicate secondary articulation.
• The Phonetic Extensions Supplement block has several more: Latin/IPA 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, Greek ᶿ.
• The Cyrillic Extended-B block contains two Cyrillic superscripts: ꚜ ꚝ.
• The Cyrillic Extended-D block contains many Cyrillic superscripts: 𞀰 𞀱 𞀲 𞀳 𞀷 𞀵 𞀶 𞀷 𞀸 𞀹 𞀺 𞀻 𞀼 𞀽 𞀾 𞀿 𞁀 𞁁 𞁂 𞁃 𞁄 𞁅 𞁆 𞁇 𞁈 𞁉 𞁊 𞁋 𞁌 𞁍 𞁎 𞁏 𞁐 𞁫 𞁬 𞁭.
• The Georgian block contains one superscripted Mkhedruli letter: ჼ.
• The Kanbun block has superscripted annotation characters used in Japanese copies of Classical Chinese texts: ㆒ ㆓ ㆔ ㆕ ㆖ ㆗ ㆘ ㆙ ㆚ ㆛ ㆜ ㆝ ㆞ ㆟.
• The Tifinagh block has one superscript letter : ⵯ.
• The Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics and its Extended blocks contain several mostly consonant-only letters to indicate syllable coda called Finals, along with some characters that indicate syllable medial known as Medials: Main block ᐜ ᐝ ᐞ ᐟ ᐠ ᐡ ᐢ ᐣ ᐤ ᐥ ᐦ ᐧ ᐨ ᐩ ᐪ ᑉ ᑊ ᑋ ᒃ ᒄ ᒡ ᒢ ᒻ ᒼ ᒽ ᒾ ᓐ ᓑ ᓒ ᓪ ᓫ ᔅ ᔆ ᔇ ᔈ ᔉ ᔊ ᔋ ᔥ ᔾ ᔿ ᕀ ᕁ ᕐ ᕑ ᕝ ᕪ ᕻ ᕯ ᕽ ᖅ ᖕ ᖖ ᖟ ᖦ ᖮ ᗮ ᘁ ᙆ ᙇ ᙚ ᙾ ᙿ; Extended block: ᣔ ᣕ ᣖ ᣗ ᣘ ᣙ ᣚ ᣛ ᣜ ᣝ ᣞ ᣟ ᣳ ᣴ ᣵ.

;Combining superscript

• 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 the dotted circle placeholder ◌: ◌ͣ ◌ͤ ◌ͥ ◌ͦ ◌ͧ ◌ͨ ◌ͩ ◌ͪ ◌ͫ ◌ͬ ◌ͭ ◌ͮ ◌ͯ.
• The Combining Diacritical Marks Extended block contains three combining insular letters for the Middle English Ormulum, ◌ᫌ ◌ᫍ ◌ᫎ.{{Cite web |title=L2/20-268: Revised proposal to add ten characters for Middle English to the UCS |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20268-n5145-ormulum.pdf |date=October 5, 2020 |first1=Michael |last1=Everson |first2=Andrew |last2=West}}
• The Combining Diacritical Marks Supplement block contains additional medieval superscript letter diacritics, enough to complete the basic lowercase Latin alphabet except for j, q and y, a few small capitals and ligatures (ae, ao, av), and additional letters: ◌᷒ ◌ᷓ ◌ᷔ ◌ᷕ ◌ᷖ ◌ᷗ ◌ᷘ ◌ᷙ ◌ᷚ ◌ᷛ ◌ᷜ ◌ᷝ ◌ᷞ ◌ᷟ ◌ᷠ ◌ᷡ ◌ᷢ ◌ᷣ ◌ᷤ ◌ᷥ ◌ᷦ ◌ᷧ ◌ᷨ ◌ᷪ ◌ᷫ ◌ᷬ ◌ᷭ ◌ᷮ ◌ᷯ ◌ᷰ ◌ᷱ ◌ᷲ ◌ᷳ ◌ᷴ, Greek ◌ᷩ.
• The Cyrillic Extended-A and -B blocks contains multiple medieval superscript letter diacritics, enough to complete the basic lowercase Cyrillic alphabet used in Church Slavonic texts, also includes an additional ligature (ст): ◌ⷠ ◌ⷡ ◌ⷢ ◌ⷣ ◌ⷤ ◌ⷥ ◌ⷦ ◌ⷧ ◌ⷨ ◌ⷩ ◌ⷪ ◌ⷫ ◌ⷬ ◌ⷭ ◌ⷮ ◌ⷯ ◌ⷰ ◌ⷱ ◌ⷲ ◌ⷳ ◌ⷴ ◌ⷵ ◌ⷶ ◌ⷷ ◌ⷸ ◌ⷹ ◌ⷺ ◌ⷻ ◌ⷼ ◌ⷽ ◌ⷾ ◌ⷿ ◌ꙴ ◌ꙵ ◌ꙶ ◌ꙷ ◌ꙸ ◌ꙹ ◌ꙺ ◌ꙻ ◌ꚞ ◌ꚟ.
• The Cyrillic Extended-D block has one additional combining character, that being і: ◌𞂏.

;Subscript

• The Latin Extended-C block contains one subscript, ⱼ.
• The Phonetic Extensions block has several subscripted letters and symbols: Latin/IPA ᵢ ᵣ ᵤ ᵥ and Greek ᵦ ᵧ ᵨ ᵩ ᵪ.
• The Cyrillic Extended-D block also contains many Cyrillic subscripts: 𞁑 𞁒 𞁓 𞁔 𞁕 𞁖 𞁗 𞁘 𞁙 𞁚 𞁛 𞁜 𞁝 𞁞 𞁟 𞁠 𞁡 𞁢 𞁣 𞁤 𞁥 𞁦 𞁧 𞁨 𞁩 𞁪.

;Combining subscript

• The Combining Diacritical Marks Supplement block contains a combining subscript: ◌᷊.
• The Combining Diacritical Marks Extended block contains two combining letters for linguistic transcriptions of Scots, ◌ᪿ ◌ᫀ.

File:Superscript small cap W.png

Consolidated, the Unicode standard contains superscript and subscript versions of a subset of Latin, Greek and Cyrillic letters. Here they are arranged in alphabetical order for comparison (or for copy and paste convenience). Since these characters appear in different Unicode ranges, they may not appear to be the same size or position due to font substitution by the browser. Shaded cells mark petite capitals that are not very distinct from minuscules in roman typeface, but they may be distinct in italic typeface, as is used in some phonetic notation.

Little punctuation is encoded. Parentheses are shown in the basic superscript block above, and the exclamation mark {{angbr IPA|ꜝ}} is shown in the IPA table below. In a supporting font, a question mark may be created with a superscript gelded question mark and a combining dot below: {{angbr IPA|ˀ̣}}.

{{Anchor|Latin superscript and subscript letters}}

*Superscript versions of S, of petite capital A, D, E and P, of ƀ, and subscript versions of w, y and z have been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard.{{Cite web|title=Additional draft repertoire for provisionally assigned code points for Unicode |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24268-n5291-post-17-chart.pdf|publisher=Unicode Consortium|date= 2024-11-26}}

Some of these superscript capitals are small caps in the source documents in the Unicode proposals.

Shaded cells Greek letters that are indistinguishable from Latin, and so would not be expected to be supported by Unicode.

{{Notelist|group=upper-alpha}}

*Superscript versions of Greek psi and omega have been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard.

Superscript and subscript ё, ї, й, ў etc. are handled with diacritics, {{angle bracket|𞀵̈ 𞁌̈ 𞀸̆ 𞁁̆}} etc. Many of the Cyrillic characters were added to the Cyrillic Extended-D block, which was added to the free Gentium Plus and Andika fonts with version 6.2 in February 2023.

See also small caps in Unicode.

The Latin Extended-F block was created for the remaining superscript IPA letters. They are supported by the free Gentium Plus and Andika fonts. Additional superscript characters for historical and para-IPA letters have been accepted for future versions of the Unicode Standard.

The Unicode characters for superscript (modifier) IPA and extIPA consonant letters are as follows. The entire Latin Extended-F block is dedicated to superscript IPA. Characters for sounds with secondary articulation are set off in parentheses and placed below the base letters.

The spacing diacritic for ejective consonants, U+2BC, works with superscript letters despite not being superscript itself: {{angbr IPA|ᵖʼ ᵗʼ ᶜʼ ᵏˣʼ}}. If a distinction needs to be made, the combining apostrophe U+315 may be used: {{angbr IPA|ᵖ̕ ᵗ̕ ᶜ̕ ᵏˣ̕}}. The spacing diacritic should be used for a baseline letter with a superscript release, such as {{IPA|[tˢʼ]}} or {{IPA|[kˣʼ]}}, where the scope of the apostrophe includes the non-superscript letter, but the combining apostrophe U+315 might be used to indicate a weakly articulated ejective consonant like {{IPA|[ᵗ̕]}} or {{IPA|[ᵏ̕]}}, where the whole consonant is written as a superscript, or together with U+2BC when separate apostrophes have scope over the base and modifier letters, as in {{angbr IPA|pʼᵏˣ̕}}.Kirk Miller & Michael Ashby, [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20253r-mod-ipa-b.pdf L2/20-253R] Unicode request for IPA modifier letters (b), non-pulmonic.

Spacing diacritics, as in {{angbr IPA|tʲ}}, cannot be secondarily superscripted in plain text: {{angbr IPA|ᵗʲ}}. (In this instance, the old IPA letter for {{IPA|[tʲ]}}, {{angbr IPA|ƫ}}, has a superscript variant in Unicode, U+1DB5 {{angbr IPA|ᶵ}}, but that is not generally the case.)

Among older letters, the most common letters with palatal hook are supported; they are displayed in the table above. IPA once had an idiosyncratic curl on some of the palatalized letters: these are the fricative letters {{angbr IPA|ʆ ʓ}}. Their superscript forms have been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard. Old-style click letters and the retired letters {{angbr IPA|ƞ}} and {{angbr IPA|ɼ}} have also been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard. The Teuthonista letter {{angbr IPA|ꜧ}} (U+A727) is an old graphic variant of {{angbr IPA|ɮ}}. Its superscript is supported at {{angbr IPA|ꭜ}} (U+AB5C).

Among para-IPA letters, superscript variants of Sinological {{angbr IPA|ȡ ȴ ȵ ȶ}}, of the Bantuist labio-dental plosives {{angbr IPA|ȹ}} and {{angbr IPA|ȸ}}, and of central semivowels {{angbr IPA|ɉ}}, {{angbr IPA|ɥ̶}}, and {{angbr IPA|w̶}} have been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard.

The Unicode characters for superscript (modifier) IPA vowel letters, plus a pair of extended letters {{angbr IPA|ᵻ ᵿ}} found in English dictionaries, are as follows. Recently retired alternative letters such as {{angbr IPA|ɩ ɷ}} are also supported; they are set off in parentheses and placed below the standard IPA letters:

The precomposed Unicode rhotic vowel letters {{angbr IPA|ɚ ɝ}} are not directly supported. The rhotic diacritic U+02DE {{IPA|◌˞}} should be used instead: {{angbr IPA|ᵊ˞ ᶟ˞}}.Kirk Miller & Michael Ashby, [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2020/20252r-mod-ipa-a.pdf L2/20-252R] Unicode request for IPA modifier-letters (a), pulmonic

{{angbr IPA|ɜ}} and {{angbr IPA|ᶟ}} are reversed {{IPA|ɛ}}. The older IPA turned {{IPA|ɛ}}, {{angbr IPA|ᴈ}}, is also supported, at U+1D4C {{angbr IPA|ᵌ}}. However, the briefly resurrected vowel letter {{angbr IPA|ʚ}} (U+029A) is not supported, only its reversed replacement {{angbr IPA|ɞ}} is.

Among older letters, {{angbr IPA|ᴜ}} (U+1D1C), a graphic variant of {{angbr IPA|ʊ}}, is supported at {{angbr IPA|ᶸ}} (U+1DB8).{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2024/24081-phonetic-middle-tilde.pdf|title=L2/24-081: Latin Phonetic The for Middle Tilde |author=Kirk Miller|date=January 30, 2024}}

Among para-IPA letters, Sinological superscript {{angbr IPA|ɿ ʅ ʮ ʯ }} and {{angbr IPA|ᴀ ᴇ}} have been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard.

The two length marks are also supported:

These are used to add length to another superscript, such as {{angbr IPA|Cʰ𐞁}} or {{angbr IPA|Cʰ𐞂}} for long aspiration.

Superscript wildcards (full caps) are largely supported: e.g. {{IPA|ᴺC}} (prenasalized consonant), {{IPA|ꟲN}} (prestopped nasal), {{IPA|Pꟳ}} (fricative release), {{IPA|NᴾF}} (epenthetic plosive), {{IPA|CVNᵀ}} (tone-bearing syllable), {{IPA|Cᴸ}} (liquid or lateral release), {{IPA|Cᴿ}} (rhotic or resonant release), {{IPA|Vᴳ}} (off-glide/diphthong), {{IPA|Cⱽ}} (fleeting vowel). Superscript {{IPA|S}} for sibilant release has been accepted for a future version of the Unicode Standard; superscript {{IPA|Ʞ}} for fleeting/epenthetic click has not. Other basic Latin superscript wildcards for tone and weak indeterminate sounds, as described in the article on the International Phonetic Alphabet, are mostly supported. (See table in previous section.)

In addition, a very few IPA letters beyond the basic Latin alphabet have combining forms or are supported as subscripts:

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

• The Latin-1 Supplement block contains the precomposed fractions ½, ¼, and ¾. The copyright © and registered trademark signs ® are also in this block; they are set as superscript in some fonts.
• The General Punctuation block contains the permille sign ‰ and the per-ten-thousand sign ‱, and Basic Latin has the percent sign %.
• The Number Forms block contains several precomposed fractions: ⅐ ⅑ ⅒ ⅓ ⅔ ⅕ ⅖ ⅗ ⅘ ⅙ ⅚ ⅛ ⅜ ⅝ ⅞ ⅟ ↉.
• The Letterlike Symbols block contains a few symbols composed of subscript and superscript characters: ℀ ℁ ℅ ℆ № ℠ ™ ⅍.
• The Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block contains three superscript abbreviations 🅪 🅫 🅬: MC for {{lang|fr|marque de commerce}} (trademark), MD for {{lang|fr|marque déposée}} (registered trademark), both used in Canada; MR for {{lang|es|marca registrada}} (registered trademark) in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries.{{Cite web|url=http://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17066r-marca-registrada.pdf|title=L2/17-066R: Proposal to encode the Marca Registrada sign|date=March 1, 2017|first=Eduardo Marín|last=Silva}}
• The Miscellaneous Technical block has one additional subscript, a subscript 10 (⏨), for the purpose of scientific notation.
• The Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics and its Extended blocks contain several letters composed with superscripted letters to indicate extended sound values: Main block ᐂ ᐫ ᐬ ᐭ ᐮ ᐰ ᑍ ᑧ ᑨ ᑩ ᑪ ᑬ ᒅ ᒆ ᒇ ᒈ ᒊ ᒤ ᓁ ᓔ ᓮ ᔌ ᔍ ᔎ ᔏ ᔧ ᕅ ᕔ ᕿ ᖀ ᖁ ᖂ ᖃ ᖄ ᖎ ᖏ ᖐ ᖑ ᖒ ᖓ ᖔ ᙯ ᙰ ᙱ ᙲ ᙳ ᙴ ᙵ ᙶ, Extended block ᢰ ᢱ ᢲ ᢳ ᢴ ᢵ ᢶ ᢷ ᢸ ᢹ ᢺ ᢻ ᢼ ᢽ ᢾ ᢿ ᣀ ᣁ ᣂ ᣃ ᣄ ᣅ.

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