U+2153 · Other number
HTML entity
⅓
Vulgar Fraction One Third Symbol ⅓
⅓ is vulgar fraction one third. Write it in HTML as ⅓ 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 one third. 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+2153 | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML hex | ⅓ | |
| HTML decimal | ⅓ | |
| CSS | \2153 | |
| JavaScript | \u{2153} | |
| Python | \U00002153 | |
| Java / C# | \u2153 | |
| Rust | \u{2153} | |
| Swift | \u{2153} | |
| PHP | \u{2153} | |
| URL encoded | %E2%85%93 | |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 85 93 | |
| UTF-16 bytes | 2153 | |
| Base64 | 4oWT | |
| Decimal | 8531 | |
| HTML entity | ⅓ | |
| Decomposes to | 1⁄3 (fraction form) | |
| Numeric value | 1/3 | |
| Category | Other number (No) | |
| Introduced | Unicode 1.1 | |
Will ⅓ survive being pasted?
- Normalisation. No. Anything that applies NFKC — search indexes, usernames, domain names, programming identifiers — rewrites ⅓ as
1⁄3. Safe for display, not for storage. - Legacy encodings. ⅓ 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 ⅓
| Windows | Type 2153 then press Alt+X |
|---|---|
| macOS | Press Ctrl+Cmd+Space, then search for “vulgar fraction one third” |
| Linux | Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 2153, press Enter |
| HTML | ⅓ |
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 ⅓ vulgar fraction one third symbol?
- On Windows, type 2153 and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 2153. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
- What is the code for ⅓?
- Vulgar Fraction One Third is U+2153, written in HTML as ⅓. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
- Will ⅓ survive being pasted anywhere?
- Not always. Vulgar Fraction One Third is a compatibility character: any system that applies Unicode NFKC normalisation — search indexes, usernames, identifiers — replaces it with 1⁄3. Use it for display, not where text is normalised.