HTML Entity for Left Double Quotation Mark (“)

Beginner
⏱️ 5 min read
📚 Updated: Jun 2026
🎯 1 Code Example
Unicode U+201C
HTML entity for Left Double Quotation Mark (U+201C) — named “, hex, decimal, and CSS tutorial

What You'll Learn

How to display the Left Double Quotation Mark (“) in HTML using the named entity, hexadecimal, decimal, and CSS escape methods. This symbol is U+201C (LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK) in the General Punctuation block (U+2000–U+206F)—the left (opening) double quotation mark, often called a “smart quote,” used in typography, quoted text, dialogue, and citations.

Render it with “ (named), “, “, or CSS \201C. Pair with the closing mark U+201D (”) for balanced quotes. Do not confuse with straight ASCII quotes (").

⚡ Quick Reference — Left Double Quotation Mark

Unicode U+201C

General Punctuation

Hex Code “

Hexadecimal reference

HTML Code “

Decimal reference

Named Entity “

Most readable option

Reference Table
Name           Value
────────────   ──────────
Unicode        U+201C
Hex code       “
HTML code      “
Named entity   “
CSS code       \201C
Meaning        Left (opening) double quotation mark
Related        U+201D = right double quotation mark (”)
               U+2018 = left single quotation mark (‘)
1

Complete HTML Example

A simple example showing the Left Double Quotation Mark (“) using the named entity, hexadecimal code, decimal HTML code, and a CSS content escape:

html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
 <style>
  #point:after{
   content: "\201C";
  }
 </style>
</head>
<body>
<p>Symbol using Hexadecimal: &#x201C;</p>
<p>Symbol using HTML Code: &#8220;</p>
<p>Symbol using HTML Entity: &ldquo;</p>
<p id="point">Symbol using CSS Entity: </p>
</body>
</html>
Try it Yourself

🌐 Browser Support

The Left Double Quotation Mark (“) renders in all modern browsers when the font includes General Punctuation glyphs:

Chrome 1+
Firefox 1+
Safari 1+
Edge 12+
Opera 4+
Android 4.4+
iOS Safari 1+

👀 Live Preview

See the Left Double Quotation Mark (“) in typography and content contexts:

Opening quote “Hello, world!”
Blockquote
“Code is poetry.”
Dialogue She said, “Let’s begin.”
Large glyph “
Quote comparison “ ” ‘ ’
Entity refs &ldquo; &#x201C; &#8220; \201C

🧠 How It Works

1

Named HTML Entity

&ldquo; is the named entity for the Left Double Quotation Mark (left opening double quote). Easy to read in articles, blockquotes, and dialogue markup.

HTML markup
2

Hexadecimal Code

&#x201C; uses the Unicode hexadecimal value 201C. The x prefix indicates hexadecimal format.

HTML markup
3

Decimal HTML Code

&#8220; uses the decimal Unicode value 8220 for the same symbol.

HTML markup
4

CSS Entity

\201C is used in CSS stylesheets in the content property of pseudo-elements like ::before for decorative opening quotes.

CSS stylesheet
=

Same visual result

All four methods produce “. Unicode U+201C is in General Punctuation. Previous: Left Double Dash Arrow.

✅

Use Cases

The Left Double Quotation Mark (“) is commonly used in:

📝 Typography

Proper opening double quotes in articles, blogs, and published content.

💬 Dialogue

Mark the start of spoken or quoted dialogue in fiction and scripts.

📚 Citations

Open quoted passages in academic, legal, and reference material.

📰 Blockquotes

Style pull quotes and blockquote elements with typographic quotes.

🎨 CSS quotes

Insert opening quotes via ::before in CSS content.

📄 CMS content

Ensure smart quotes render correctly when straight quotes are typed.

💡 Best Practices

Do

  • Prefer &ldquo; in HTML for readability
  • Pair “ with ” (&rdquo;) for balanced double quotes
  • Use smart quotes instead of straight ASCII " in body copy
  • Set <meta charset="utf-8">
  • Use fonts that support General Punctuation (U+201C)
  • Keep one encoding style per project for consistency

Don’t

  • Confuse &ldquo; (U+201C) with &rdquo; (U+201D, closing quote)
  • Confuse &ldquo; with straight " (U+0022)
  • Use CSS \201C inside HTML text nodes
  • Mix straight and curly quotes inconsistently in the same article
  • Use “ as a closing quote at the end of a sentence

Key Takeaways

1

Four ways to render U+201C in HTML and CSS

&ldquo; &#x201C; &#8220;
2

For CSS, use \201C in the content property

3

Unicode U+201C — LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK

4

General Punctuation block (U+2000–U+206F) — named entity &ldquo;

5

Previous: Left Double Dash Arrow (⤌)   Next: Left Fish Tail

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Use &ldquo; (named), &#x201C; (hex), &#8220; (decimal), or \201C in CSS content. All four methods render “ correctly.
U+201C (LEFT DOUBLE QUOTATION MARK). General Punctuation block (U+2000–U+206F). Hex 201C, decimal 8220. The left (opening) double quotation mark.
In typography and quoted text, articles and blog posts, dialogue and citations, and any content that needs proper left (opening) double quotation marks instead of straight quotes.
Named and numeric HTML references (&ldquo;, &#8220;, &#x201C;) go in markup. The CSS escape \201C is used in stylesheets, typically on ::before or ::after. Both produce “.
Yes. &ldquo; is the named HTML entity for U+201C. You can also use &#8220; (decimal) or &#x201C; (hex) and \201C in CSS.

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About the author

Mari Selvan M P
Mari Selvan M P 🔗

Developer, cloud engineer, and technical writer

  • Experience 12 years building web and cloud systems
  • Focus Full Stack Development, AWS, and Developer Education

I write practical tutorials so students and working developers can learn by doing—from databases and APIs to deployment on AWS.

AWS Certified Developer – Associate (Credly)

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