Superscript Numbers — Tiny Raised Digits

Superscript numbers are small raised digits that appear above the normal text baseline. They're essential for mathematical notation (x², E=mc²), ordinal numbers (1ˢᵗ, 2ⁿᵈ, 3ʳᵈ), and footnote markers — all as plain text, no formatting needed.

Unlike HTML <sup> tags or rich text superscripts, Unicode superscript digits (⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹) are standalone characters that work everywhere. Paste them into any text field on any platform.

Note: The superscript digits ¹, ², and ³ use different Unicode code points than ⁴-⁹ due to historical reasons — they were added to Unicode much earlier. All nine digits plus ⁰ display correctly on modern devices.

Superscript numbers also include mathematical operators: ⁺ (plus), ⁻ (minus), ⁼ (equals), ⁽ (left paren), ⁾ (right paren) — enabling complete superscript mathematical expressions.

The reason ¹²³ scatter across Unicode is a genuine accident of history. When the Latin-1 character set was standardized in the 1980s, it included ², ³ and ¹ — because they were already printed on typewriter keys and in early fonts for common fractions and footnotes. Years later, when Unicode added the full run ⁰ and ⁴–⁹ for completeness, those three digits were already encoded elsewhere and couldn't be moved. So superscript one, two and three sit far away in the Latin-1 Supplement while zero and four-through-nine live together near U+2070.

In practice this split is invisible — every one of ⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹ renders correctly on any modern device, and you can build x² + y³ = z⁵ or the ordinal 1ˢᵗ with no fuss. It only matters if you generate them in code and assume they run in one tidy sequence: they don't, and a lookup table beats arithmetic here. For everyday use — exponents, footnote markers, ordinals in a bio — just copy the digit you need.