How do I type the ⅜ vulgar fraction three eighths symbol?

On Windows, type 215C and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 215c. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.

What is the code for ⅜?

Vulgar Fraction Three Eighths is U+215C, written in HTML as &frac38;. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.

Will ⅜ survive being pasted anywhere?

Not always. Vulgar Fraction Three Eighths is a compatibility character: any system that applies Unicode NFKC normalisation — search indexes, usernames, identifiers — replaces it with 3⁄8. Use it for display, not where text is normalised.

U+215C · Other number

HTML entity

&frac38;

Vulgar Fraction Three Eighths Symbol ⅜

⅜ is vulgar fraction three eighths. Write it in HTML as &frac38; 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 three 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+215C`
HTML hex	`⅜`
HTML decimal	`⅜`
CSS	`\215C`
JavaScript	`\u{215C}`
Python	`\U0000215C`
Java / C#	`\u215C`
Rust	`\u{215c}`
Swift	`\u{215C}`
PHP	`\u{215C}`
URL encoded	`%E2%85%9C`
UTF-8 bytes	`E2 85 9C`
UTF-16 bytes	`215C`
Base64	`4oWc`
Decimal	`8540`
HTML entity	`&frac38;`
Decomposes to	3⁄8 (fraction form)
Numeric value	3/8
Category	Other number (No)
Introduced	Unicode 1.1

Will ⅜ survive being pasted?

Normalisation. No. Anything that applies NFKC — search indexes, usernames, domain names, programming identifiers — rewrites ⅜ as 3⁄8. Safe for display, not for storage.
Legacy encodings. ⅜ 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.

All 58 characters in Number Forms →

How to type ⅜

Windows	Type `215C` then press `Alt`+`X`
macOS	Press `Ctrl`+`Cmd`+`Space`, then search for “vulgar fraction three eighths”
Linux	Press `Ctrl`+`Shift`+`U`, type `215c`, press `Enter`
HTML	`&frac38;`

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 ⅜ vulgar fraction three eighths symbol?: On Windows, type 215C and press Alt+X. On Linux press Ctrl+Shift+U then 215c. On any system the quickest route is the copy button on this page.
What is the code for ⅜?: Vulgar Fraction Three Eighths is U+215C, written in HTML as &frac38;. In UTF-8 it takes 3 bytes. The table above lists every escape format.
Will ⅜ survive being pasted anywhere?: Not always. Vulgar Fraction Three Eighths is a compatibility character: any system that applies Unicode NFKC normalisation — search indexes, usernames, identifiers — replaces it with 3⁄8. Use it for display, not where text is normalised.