‘

Left Single Quotation Mark

Unicode
U+2018
Category
Punctuation
HTML Entity
‘
CSS
\2018
The Left Single Quotation Mark (‘), often referred to as a "smart quote" or curly quote, is used in typography to indicate the beginning of a quote or dialogue nested within a larger quotation. Unlike the straight, typewriter-style single quote, this elegantly curved glyph is designed to pair exactly with the right single quotation mark for polished, professional text styling. It is widely used in book publishing, web design, and digital content where high-quality typographic accuracy is preferred over plain text.

How to Type

Windows
Alt+0145
macOS
Option+]
Linux
Compose + < + '
HTML
&lsquo;

In Programming

While visually appealing in readable text, smart quotes like the left single quotation mark should be avoided when writing code. Programming languages strictly require standard straight single quotes (') for defining strings, and using a curly quote will typically throw a syntax error.

Read full meaning article

Tags

opening quote curly quote apostrophe punctuation typography

Related Symbols

© Copyright Sign ® Registered Sign ™ Trade Mark Sign § Section Sign Pilcrow Sign † Dagger ‡ Double Dagger • Bullet … Horizontal Ellipsis « Left Double Angle Quote » Right Double Angle Quote ’ Right Single Quotation Mark