The degree symbol (°)
One small circle, three big jobs: the degree symbol measures angles in geometry, temperatures in weather, and positions on the globe. This page is the copy source for the symbol itself — ° alone, and ready-paired with C and F — with correctly formatted examples for every job, the spacing rules for each, and a short note on the “grad” the sign is named after in half the world’s languages.
Copy the degree symbol
Formatted examples to copy
Where the sign works
| Job | Format | Spacing rule |
|---|---|---|
| Temperature (SI style) | 22 °C | Space before °C — the form used in science and most of the world |
| Temperature (US style) | 72°F | No space in American publishing; both styles are understood everywhere |
| Angles | 90° · 45° · 360° | No space — the sign hugs the number; a full turn is 360 degrees symbol-marked steps of 1° each |
| Coordinates | 51.5074° N, 0.1278° W | No space; the letter gives the hemisphere |
| Alcohol & proof (older texts) | 40° | Historical use on spirits labels in some countries |
The “grad” question
Searchers typing symbol grad are usually meeting the word other languages use for this sign: Grad in German, grado in Spanish, градус (gradus) in Russian — all from Latin gradus, a step, because the circle was divided into steps. One caution: the gradian (also called the gon) is a DIFFERENT unit — 400 gradians make a full circle, so 1 gradian = 0.9°, and surveyors who use it write “gon”, never °. The degree of this page is the 360-to-a-circle unit, and its symbolic degrees — 0°, 90°, 180°, 270° — mark the compass quarters as well as the geometry.
Typing it, briefly
The one-line routes: Windows Alt + 0176; Mac Shift + Option + 8; Word 00B0 then Alt + X; HTML °. For the full walkthroughs — Word and Excel toolbars, Google Docs, phones, and what to do when a keyboard fights back — the companion guide how to type the degree symbol covers every platform step by step. (That guide owns the typing questions; this page is the symbol’s home.)
Explore more
The measurement family continues on the unit symbols page (primes, square metres, volumes), tolerance marks live on the plus minus symbol page, and the full operator set gathers on the math symbols hub. The degree at work in weather and ovens gets its own page: the celsius symbol, with Fahrenheit beside it.
Frequently asked questions
Is ° its own character or a small o?
Its own character: U+00B0 DEGREE SIGN. A superscript letter o (masculine ordinal º, U+00BA) looks similar and is a different character — the reason some pasted temperatures render oddly.
What does a 4 degrees symbol mean in weather?
Context decides the scale: “4°” alone in a forecast almost always inherits the local scale — 4 °C in most of the world, 4°F in the US. Written fully, 4 °C needs no guessing.
Do I put a space before °?
For angles and coordinates, no: 90°, 51.5° N. For temperatures it depends on style: SI writes 22 °C with a space; US publishing usually writes 72°F without.
Why 360 degrees in a circle?
A Babylonian inheritance: their base-60 mathematics favoured 360, a number divisible by almost everything — the division stuck for angles, hours and compass points alike.
What is the degree symbol called in other languages?
Grad (German), grado (Spanish/Italian), degré (French), градус (Russian), درجات (Arabic) — the “step” idea travels with the sign everywhere.