° Degree Symbol — Copy and Paste, Alt Code

01 — Origin

Where the Degree symbol comes from

The degree sign started as a small zero. Astronomers writing sexagesimal measurements marked degrees, minutes and seconds with a raised 0, 1 and 2; the first of those hardened into a ring and stayed, while the other two became the prime marks ′ and ″ still used for minutes and seconds.

Temperature, angles and coordinates. The spacing rule catches people out: 25 °C takes a space because the degree belongs to the unit, while 25° for an angle does not, because there is no unit to attach to.

Worth knowing

It is not the same as the masculine ordinal º used in Spanish and Portuguese, nor as the ring above ˚ — all three look nearly identical and sort differently.

02 — Codes

Degree symbol codes

Tap any value to copy it. All of them produce the same character — they just belong to different places.

03 — How to type

How to type ° on any keyboard

Pick the route that matches the program in front of you.

Windows

Hold Alt and type 176 on the numeric keypad, then release. Without a keypad, use the Character Map app (search “charmap”).

Mac

Press Control + Command + Space to open the character viewer, then search “degree”. Double-click to insert.

Phone

There is no shortcut on a phone keyboard. Tap the symbol at the top of this page, then long-press in any text field and choose Paste.

Web and code

In HTML write ° or °. In CSS content: "\00B0". Make sure the page is served as UTF-8 and the raw character works too.

04 — Font support

Will ° actually show up?

We checked 147 fonts installed on a normal machine and counted how many of them contain this character. A symbol missing from a font is drawn as an empty box — the text is still correct, it just cannot be drawn.

97% 143 of 147 fonts

Safe everywhere. This one is in almost every font ever installed, including the defaults on Windows, Mac and Android.

05 — Similar

Symbols people confuse with °

Lookalikes that are not the same character at all — separate codes, separate fonts, and here they number 8.

µ Micro SignU+B5 · has its own page

06 — Related

Other mathematical symbols

Symbols from the same family, each with its own page: where it came from, how to type it and how well fonts support it.

∞ Infinity symbolIn 89% of system fonts √ Square root symbolIn 89% of system fonts ∫ Integral symbolIn 89% of system fonts ≠ Not equal symbolIn 89% of system fonts ≈ Approximately equal symbolIn 89% of system fonts ≤ Less than or equal symbolIn 87% of system fonts

07 — Same block

Punctuation

Dashes, quotes, bullets, daggers and the marks between them.

All punctuation →

08 — FAQ

Degree symbol — questions

How do I type the Degree symbol?

On Windows hold Alt and type 176 on the numeric keypad. On Mac open the character viewer with Control + Command + Space and search “Degree”. Or just tap the symbol on this page — it goes straight to your clipboard.

What is the HTML code for °?

Write it as ° or ° in HTML, \00B0 in CSS content, and \u00B0 in JavaScript. All four produce the same character.

Is ° an emoji?

No. ° is a text character — it takes the colour of the text around it and works in usernames, filenames and documents. An emoji is replaced by a colour picture and is sometimes stripped by forms and systems.

Why does ° show as a box on some devices?

Because that font has no drawing for this character. We checked 147 fonts on a normal machine and 143 of them include it. The character itself is always correct; only the drawing is missing.

°Degree symbol