U+215D · Other number
HTML entity
⅝
Vulgar Fraction Five Eighths Symbol ⅝
⅝ is vulgar fraction five eighths. Write it in HTML as ⅝ or paste the character directly. It was added in Unicode 1.1, and Unicode files it under Other number.
Also known as
Unicode 1.0 called this character fraction five eighths. The standard renamed it later, but documents, fonts and font-editing tools from that era still use the old name.
Codes & technical data
| Unicode | U+215D | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML hex | ⅝ | |
| HTML decimal | ⅝ | |
| CSS | \215D | |
| JavaScript | \u{215D} | |
| Python | \U0000215D | |
| Java / C# | \u215D | |
| Rust | \u{215d} | |
| Swift | \u{215D} | |
| PHP | \u{215D} | |
| URL encoded | %E2%85%9D | |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 85 9D | |
| UTF-16 bytes | 215D | |
| Base64 | 4oWd | |
| Decimal | 8541 | |
| HTML entity | ⅝ | |
| Decomposes to | 5⁄8 (fraction form) | |
| Numeric value | 5/8 | |
| Category | Other number (No) | |
| Introduced | Unicode 1.1 | |
Will ⅝ survive being pasted?
- Normalisation. No. Anything that applies NFKC — search indexes, usernames, domain names, programming identifiers — rewrites ⅝ as
5⁄8. Safe for display, not for storage. - Legacy encodings. ⅝ is Unicode-only — it has no Latin-1 equivalent, so a system stuck on an 8-bit encoding cannot represent it.
- Size. 3 bytes in UTF-8. Character-limited fields — SMS, bios, some form validators — usually count bytes, not characters.
Nearby in Number Forms
Roman numerals as single characters, and the vulgar fractions beyond the three Latin-1 supplies. A Roman numeral here is one character, not a run of letters, so Ⅷ and VIII sort and search differently.
How to type ⅝
| Windows | Type 215D then press Alt+X |
|---|---|
| macOS | Press Ctrl+Cmd+Space, then search for “vulgar fraction five eighths” |
| Linux | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 215d, press Enter |
| HTML | ⅝ |
About Unicode’s Other number category
This is classified as a number that is not a plain digit — a fraction, a superscript figure, a circled or bracketed numeral. Software will not parse it as a number without being told to.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I type the ⅝ vulgar fraction five eighths symbol?
- On Windows, type 215D and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 215d. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
- What is the code for ⅝?
- Vulgar Fraction Five Eighths is U+215D, written in HTML as ⅝. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
- Will ⅝ survive being pasted anywhere?
- Not always. Vulgar Fraction Five Eighths is a compatibility character: any system that applies Unicode NFKC normalisation — search indexes, usernames, identifiers — replaces it with 5⁄8. Use it for display, not where text is normalised.