Degree Sign
Block: Latin-1 Supplement
- Symbol
- °
- Unicode
U+00B0- Unicode name
- DEGREE SIGN
- Block
- Latin-1 Supplement
- Script
- Common
- Category
- Symbol, Other
- Type
- Unicode symbol
The degree sign ° is U+00B0. It is used with degree measurements such as angles and degree-based temperature notation, but it is a separate character from the masculine ordinal indicator º, ring above ˚, ring operator ∘, and superscript zero ⁰.
Where the Degree Sign Is Used
The degree sign is attached to values expressed in degrees. Common examples include angular measurements such as 90°, geographic coordinates, and temperature notation that uses a degree symbol with a scale name or abbreviation. The character itself identifies the degree marker; the surrounding text determines whether the quantity is an angle, a temperature, or another degree-based measurement.
Because the glyph is small, it is easy to treat it as a decorative raised circle. In encoded text, however, it is a specific spacing character. Copying the correct character preserves a stable code point instead of substituting a similar-looking letter or mathematical operator.
If your character differs from this one, try identify the ° symbol to find the exact mark from pasted text, Unicode, or visual clues.
Do Not Confuse ° With º, ˚, ∘, or ⁰
Unicode lists several characters that resemble the degree sign. º is MASCULINE ORDINAL INDICATOR, a letter-like character. ˚ is RING ABOVE. ∘ is RING OPERATOR, a mathematical symbol. ⁰ is SUPERSCRIPT ZERO. They can look very similar in a small font, but they carry different code points and different semantics.
The safest way to distinguish them is to inspect the Unicode value rather than the shape alone. A degree sign should identify as U+00B0. If a pasted character reports a different code point, it is not the same character even when the rendered circle appears nearly identical.
Digital Representations of U+00B0
The encoded identity can be represented without relying on the glyph. U+00B0 = decimal 176 = HTML ° / °. A Unicode escape-style representation is u00B0. The UTF-8 byte sequence for the current glyph is C2 B0.
These forms are useful when a font does not display the symbol clearly, when debugging copied text, or when comparing characters that look alike. Numeric references and escapes identify the underlying code point or sequence rather than a particular font drawing.
The Degree Sign Is a Spacing Character, Not a Combining Ring
U+00B0 is encoded as an independent spacing character. That means it occupies its own character position in text. It is different from combining marks that attach to a preceding base letter and from modifier characters whose purpose is linguistic rather than measurement notation.
This distinction matters in search, copy-and-paste workflows, and text processing. A font may draw several small-circle characters with almost the same outline, but software still sees separate code points and can treat them differently.