° vs º vs ˚: which raised circle is the degree symbol?
The degree sign is ° (U+00B0). The masculine ordinal indicator º (U+00BA) is a Spanish and Portuguese abbreviation mark, and the ring above ˚ (U+02DA) is a diacritic. All three render as a small raised circle. Only the first one means degrees.
Last checked 2026-08-05.
At a glance
| Character | Code point | Name | HTML | When it is correct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ° | U+00B0 | Degree Sign | ° | Temperature, angles, coordinates, alcohol strength. The only correct one for degrees. |
| º | U+00BA | Masculine Ordinal Indicator | º | Spanish and Portuguese ordinals and abbreviations, such as 1º for primero. |
| ª | U+00AA | Feminine Ordinal Indicator | ª | The feminine counterpart, such as 1ª for primera. |
| ˚ | U+02DA | Ring Above | ˚ | A spacing diacritic, the mark that sits over the Scandinavian letter a-ring. |
| ∘ | U+2218 | Ring Operator | ∘ | Function composition in mathematics. Not a degree sign, despite the shape. |
Why the wrong one keeps getting typed
On several keyboard layouts the ordinal indicator is easier to reach than the degree sign, and on macOS the ring above sits behind a common Option combination. Autocorrect in some applications substitutes one for the other. And because all of them draw as a small circle near the top of the line, nothing on screen tells you which one you got.
The difference only surfaces later: a search for 20°C finds nothing in a document written with 20ºC, a sort puts the rows in an order nobody expects, and a screen reader announces masculine ordinal indicator instead of degrees.
How to check which one you have
In Microsoft Word, place the cursor immediately after the character and press Alt and X together. Word replaces it with its code point. You want 00B0. Press Alt+X again to turn it back.
In Google Sheets or Excel, the formula UNICODE applied to a cell containing the character returns its decimal code point. The degree sign is 176. The masculine ordinal indicator is 186. The ring above is 730.
In a browser, opening the developer console and inspecting the character's code point works, but the quickest check on a page is usually to search for the character you expect and see whether the match highlights.
Spacing conventions for the degree sign itself
For temperature, the widely followed convention is a space between the number and the degree sign when a unit follows, and no space when it does not: 20 °C but 20°. Several style guides simply set it closed up in all cases. Both are defensible and neither changes the character.
For angles, coordinates and alcohol strength the sign is set closed up against the number without exception. And in every case the character is the same U+00B0; the spacing is a typographic choice, not a different code point.
Kelvin has no degree sign
Temperatures in kelvin are written without a degree sign: 300 K, not 300 °K. That has been the standard since 1967. It is the one place where the correct answer is to leave the character out entirely, and it is a mistake that survives in a lot of otherwise careful copy.
Frequently asked questions
What is the degree symbol code?
U+00B0. In HTML it is the named entity for degree, or the numeric reference 176 in decimal. On Windows, Alt 0176.
Is º the same as °?
No. U+00BA is the masculine ordinal indicator used in Spanish and Portuguese. It looks similar and means something entirely different.
Does kelvin take a degree sign?
No. Write 300 K. The degree sign is used for Celsius and Fahrenheit but not for kelvin.