Commercial minus sign (⁒) is the Unicode character at U+2052 in the General Punctuation block. It is a spacing symbol used in commercial and financial notation — not a combining diacritic, and not the everyday ASCII hyphen-minus.
Remember
Character ⁒
Unicode U+2052
Hex entity ⁒
Decimal ⁒
CSS escape \2052
Named entity (none for U+2052)
Not the same - U+002D · − U+2212 · % U+0025
Prefer typing ⁒ in UTF-8 HTML when your keyboard or editor supports it; use ⁒ or ⁒ when you need an explicit entity.
Reference
Quick Reference
One table for every form you will actually use.
Form
Code
Where it goes
Direct character
⁒
HTML text (UTF-8)
Hex entity
⁒
HTML markup
Decimal entity
⁒
HTML markup
CSS escape
\2052
Stylesheet content
ASCII hyphen-minus
- / U+002D
Everyday minus / hyphen — not U+2052
When to Use Which
Situation
Use
Commercial / financial notation needing ⁒
⁒ or type ⁒
Generated / numeric-only markup
⁒ or ⁒
Generated text via ::before / ::after
content: "\2052"
Everyday subtraction or negative numbers
ASCII - or math − (U+2212)
Percentages
% (U+0025) — not U+2052
See it
Live Preview
Commercial minus sign rendered alone and next to look-alikes.
Inline textBalance ⁒ 12.50
Large glyph⁒
Compared⁒ - − %
Monospacedelta ⁒ qty
With entitiesHex: ⁒ | Decimal: ⁒
Code
Complete HTML Example
One page that shows commercial minus sign with hex, decimal, CSS escape, and a typed character. Use View Output or open the live editor.
Hex + Decimal + CSS + Typed
Four ways to produce ⁒ in a single document.
html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Commercial Minus Sign (⁒) in HTML</title>
<style>
#point::after {
content: "\2052";
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Commercial minus using Hex Code: ⁒</p>
<p>Commercial minus using HTML Code: ⁒</p>
<p id="point">Commercial minus using CSS Entity: </p>
<p>Typed directly: ⁒</p>
</body>
</html>
Commercial minus using Hex Code: ⁒
Commercial minus using HTML Code: ⁒
Commercial minus using CSS Entity: ⁒
Typed directly: ⁒
How It Works
1. Hex:U+2052 → ⁒ in HTML → ⁒.
2. Decimal: same code point as 8274 → ⁒. Same result as hex.
3. CSS: use \2052 in content (not an HTML entity). #point::after appends that ⁒ after the paragraph text.
4. Typed: in a UTF-8 page you can paste ⁒ directly. All four lines show the same glyph.
Pitfalls & Tips
Common mistakes when working with commercial minus sign.
Named?
No named entity
HTML5 has no &…; name for U+2052. Use ⁒ or ⁒.
− vs -
Not a normal minus
For subtraction and negative numbers, use ASCII - or math − (U+2212). Reserve ⁒ for commercial notation.
% look-alike
Not percent
% is U+0025. Commercial minus can resemble percent in some fonts — check the code point, not only the shape.
CSS vs HTML
Do not mix escapes
\2052 belongs in CSS strings. ⁒ / ⁒ belong in HTML.
Fonts
Glyph coverage varies
Some fonts omit U+2052 and show a box. Test with a font that covers General Punctuation.
Semicolon
End references
Always finish with ; — write ⁒, not ⁒.
Compatibility
Browser Support
Commercial minus sign (U+2052) and its numeric entity forms (⁒, ⁒, CSS \\2052) are supported in all mainstream browsers. Visible glyphs depend on font coverage.
✓ Universal support
Commercial Minus Sign (⁒)
Encode with hex, decimal, CSS escape, or type the character — same code point everywhere encoding is supported.
100%Browser coverage
Google ChromeSupported
Yes
Microsoft EdgeSupported
Yes
Mozilla FirefoxSupported
Yes
Apple SafariSupported
Yes
OperaSupported
Yes
Internet ExplorerAll versions
Yes
U+2052 / entitiesFull support
Bottom line: Use ⁒ or ⁒ in HTML when you need the commercial minus glyph, and \\2052 only inside CSS content. Prefer ASCII - or math − for everyday minus.
Remember
Key Takeaways
Unicode: commercial minus sign is U+2052 (decimal 8274) — glyph ⁒.
HTML: type ⁒, or use ⁒ / ⁒ (no named entity).
CSS: use \2052 inside content for generated text.
Watch out:⁒ ≠ - ≠ − ≠ %.
One line:U+2052 → ⁒ / ⁒ / CSS \2052 / type ⁒.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use ⁒ (hex), ⁒ (decimal), type ⁒ directly in UTF-8, or the CSS escape \2052 in content. There is no named HTML entity for U+2052.
U+2052 (hex 2052, decimal 8274). It belongs to the General Punctuation block and is used in commercial and financial notation.
No. Use numeric references like ⁒ or ⁒, or type the character ⁒ in a UTF-8 document.
Use it when a document specifically needs the commercial minus sign glyph. For everyday subtraction or negative numbers, prefer ASCII - (U+002D) or math minus − (U+2212).
HTML entities (⁒ or ⁒) go in markup. The CSS escape \2052 goes in stylesheet strings (usually content on ::before/::after).
⁒ (U+2052) is commercial minus. - (U+002D) is ASCII hyphen-minus. − (U+2212) is the mathematical minus sign. % (U+0025) is percent — a different character that can look similar in some fonts.
🤔
Did you know?
Commercial minus sign is Unicode U+2052 (decimal 8274) — glyph ⁒. It appears in commercial and financial notation and looks a little like a percent sign, but it is not%. HTML5 has no named entity. Do not confuse it with ASCII hyphen-minus - (U+002D) or math minus − (U+2212).
