¹
¹ Superscript One
Superscript one (¹) is a raised 1 — used for units, footnote markers, and completing the set with ² and ³.
Also known as: superscript one, to the power of 1, small 1, exponent 1.
Codes
| Symbol | ¹ | |
| Unicode | U+00B9 | |
| HTML entity (named) | ¹ | |
| HTML entity (decimal) | ¹ | |
| HTML entity (hex) | ¹ | |
| CSS | \00B9 | |
| LaTeX | ^1 | |
| Windows Alt code | Alt + 0185 |
How to type ¹ (Superscript One)
WindowsAlt + 0185
Hold Alt and type 0185 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.
Mac
No default keystroke. Open Character Viewer (Control + Cmd + Space), search “superscript one”, or apply superscript formatting and type 1.
Microsoft Word00B9, Alt + X
Type 00B9, then press Alt + X. Or press Ctrl + Shift + = for superscript and type 1.
Google Docs
Format → Text → Superscript (Ctrl + .), then type 1 — or Insert → Special characters and search “superscript one”.
LaTeX^1
In math mode, type x^1. (In practice x¹ is just x, so this mostly appears in units: m s⁻¹.)
Usage
- ¹ appears in unit exponents — m s⁻¹ for metres per second — and as a footnote marker in running text.
- ★ The typography trap: ¹ ² ³ live in the Latin-1 block (U+00B9, U+00B2, U+00B3), while ⁰ and ⁴–⁹ live in a different block entirely (U+2070, U+2074–U+2079). Many fonts only hand-tuned the first three, so x¹²³ and x⁴⁵⁶ can come out at different sizes or off the same baseline. If you need a run of superscript digits to line up, use real superscript formatting or LaTeX, not the characters.
- Same limitation as ² and ³: these are typographic characters, not exponents. You cannot build x²ⁿ⁺¹ out of them.
- Historically ¹ ² ³ were in Latin-1 because they were needed for legacy Western European text (m², m³, footnotes) — which is exactly why the rest of the digits ended up somewhere else.