All About the ° (Degree Sign): Meaning, Uses, and How to Type It
The ° (degree sign) is a typographical symbol primarily used to represent degrees of arc or temperature. Whether you are checking the daily weather forecast, measuring an angle in geometry, or denoting the proof of an alcoholic beverage, this small raised circle is an essential part of written communication across science, math, and everyday digital life.
The origin of the degree sign dates back to the early days of mathematics and astronomy. Historians believe the symbol evolved from a small superscript zero, initially used to represent a "zeroth" level of subdivision in the sexagesimal (base-60) numeral system developed by ancient Babylonians and adopted by Greek astronomers. Over centuries, this tiny circle became the standard marker for both geographic coordinates and temperature scales like Celsius and Fahrenheit.
In the Unicode standard, the degree sign is designated as U+00B0 and lives within the Latin-1 Supplement block. It was introduced early in the history of digital text encoding to ensure seamless display across virtually all platforms, fonts, and operating systems. In programming and web design, developers commonly display it using the HTML entity `°`.
You will spot the degree sign everywhere. In meteorology, it is the universal shorthand for temperature (like 72°F or 22°C). In geometry and navigation, it measures angles, latitude, and longitude. On social media, users frequently drop the ° symbol to complain about sweltering heat waves or freezing winters. Creative internet users even repurpose the symbol as eyes when building cute, text-based kaomoji faces like ( ° ᴗ ° ).
It is incredibly easy to confuse the true degree sign with its visual lookalikes. The masculine ordinal indicator (º), used in languages like Spanish and Italian to denote "first" or "second" (1º, 2º), often features a tiny underline depending on the font. Other imposters include the ring above diacritic (˚) and the superscript zero (⁰). Using the correct U+00B0 character ensures screen readers, weather apps, and data parsers interpret your text accurately.
Typing the degree sign is simple once you know the shortcuts. On a Mac, press Option + Shift + 8. On Windows, hold the Alt key and type 0176 on your numeric keypad. For mobile users on both iOS and Android, just tap your keyboard's number layout, press and hold the zero (0) key, and slide your finger up to the ° symbol that pops up.