Superscript

This article is about the term 'superscript' as used in typography. "SuperScript" can also refer to a commercially available Reverse transcriptase.

Example of superscripts in Adobe Myriad Pro. The first "2" is a professionally designed superscript included as part of the glyph set; the second "2" is a manual approximation using a small version of the standard "2." Notice that the visual weight of the first "2" matches the other letters better. (In this typeface the size of the superscript is about 60% of the original characters, raised by about 44%.)

A superscript is a number, figure, or symbol that appears above the baseline, at the right or left of another symbol or text. Superscripts are often used, with various meanings, in formulas, mathematical expressions, or descriptions of chemical compounds and isotopes. Superscripts can also be used to indicate the presence of a footnote in a document. Sometimes, ordinal endings for numbers are written as superscripts (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd rather than 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

In professional typography, superscript characters are not simply ordinary characters reduced in size; to keep them visually similar to the rest of the font, typeface designers make them slightly heavier than a reduced-size character would be. Likewise, the amount that superscripted text is raised above the original baseline varies by typeface. Depending on the typeface, superscript characters normally appear in reduced font size, usually between 58% and 67% of normal size. Their baseline is typically raised by around 50% to 65% of full letter height ascent (i.e., about 30% to 40% of the nominal font size).

Software Support

HTML superscripts
AbCd

In HTML, superscript text is produced by putting it inside the tags <sup> and </sup>.

In TeX's math mode, superscripts are typeset with the caret. Thus $X^{ab}$ produces $X^{ab}$.

Unicode defines some superscript symbols, but note that in most fonts the "superscript" numerals are in fact numerator glyphs which would ordinarily be used in a diagonal fraction (such as ½), as the tops of the glyphs are aligned with the cap line of the parent font.

• in Latin-1 Supplement block, the feminine and masculine ordinal indicators U+00AA ª, U+00BA º and superscript numerals U+00B9 ¹, U+00B2 ², U+00B3 ³
• in the Spacing Modifier Letters block, U+02B0 to U+02B8, ʰ ʱ ʲ ʳ ʴ ʵ ʶ ʷ ʸ, U+02E2 ˢ, U+02E3 ˣ
• in the Phonetic Extensions block, U+1D43 to U+1D61, 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
• in the Unicode subscripts and superscripts block, U+2070 ⁰, U+2071 ⁱ , U+2074 to U+207F ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ ⁺ ⁻ ⁼ ⁽ ⁾ ⁿ

See also

• subscript
• Unicode subscripts and superscripts
• superior letter