Superior letter
Encyclopedia
In typography
and handwriting
, a superior letter is a lower-case letter placed above the baseline and made smaller than ordinary script. The style is distinct from superscript
. Formerly quite common in abbreviations, the original purpose was to make handwritten abbreviations clearly distinct from normal words. These could also be used to enable the important words on signs to be larger. Technically, it is called a superscripted minuscule letter.
With the coming of printing
, pieces of type were cast to enable them to appear in print. These are still commonly used in French
, Italian
, Portuguese
and Spanish
, though their appearance in English
has diminished. Not every letter in the alphabet has a piece of type cast for it as a superior letter. In his book, Thinking in Type, Alex W. White says that there are only twelve such, and these are used in French and Spanish: a, b, d, e, i, l, m, n, o, r, s, and t.
They are used to shorten any kind of word where there is not enough room for the entire one: F.ca de caramelos ("fábrica de caramelos", candy factory), but are more usual with ordinals: 3.er ("tercer", third); titles: D.a ("doña", mistress); personal compound given names F.co Javier (Francisco Javier), M.a Cristina (María Cristina) and regular administrative expressions: f.do ("firmado", signed).
In the eighteenth century, they were commonly used to abbreviate typical given names, such as Jos for "Joseph" or Wm for "William." They are still used occasionally.
s for Spanish and other languages have separated symbols devoted to o and a as a shorthand intended to be used primarily with ordinals: 1.o, 5.a ("primero" and "quinta", first and fifth in Spanish), etc.
In computing, early 8-bit character sets as code page 437
for the original IBM PC
(circa 1981) also had these characters. In ISO-8859-1 Latin-1, and later in Unicode
, they are assigned to and are known as U+00AA FEMININE ORDINAL INDICATOR (ª) and U+00BA MASCULINE ORDINAL INDICATOR (º). Here, "feminine" and "masculine" has some sense only for a few Romance languages, in which grammatical gender
is usually denoted by the suffixes -a and -o, respectively (as in Spanish).
They are used as follows: prima vittoria, Italian for "first victory", can be written 1ª vittoria; secondo tempo, meaning "second time", can be written 2º tempo.
In the most of common available computer font
s today, these characters are not underlined, and they seem merely superscripted a (a) and superscripted o (o, often confused with the degree sign ° due to this fact).
. Originally, this was just another use of a superior "o", abbreviating numero, the word for "number" in several Romance languages, but it often appeared in English: e.g., No 2 pencil, for "number-two pencil".
In Unicode
, it is assigned to character U+2116 NUMERO SIGN (№) within the Letterlike Symbols block.
(position 252) and Unicode
(U+207F SUPERSCRIPT LATIN SMALL LETTER N) have a character to represent the n-th power of a number or variable in mathematics, for example . This superscript usage of the lowercase n it is not considered as superior letter at all.
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
and handwriting
Handwriting
Handwriting is a person's particular & individual style of writing with pen or pencil, which contrasts with "Hand" which is an impersonal and formalised writing style in several historical varieties...
, a superior letter is a lower-case letter placed above the baseline and made smaller than ordinary script. The style is distinct from superscript
Subscript and superscript
A subscript or superscript is a number, figure, symbol, or indicator that appears smaller than the normal line of type and is set slightly below or above it – subscripts appear at or below the baseline, while superscripts are above...
. Formerly quite common in abbreviations, the original purpose was to make handwritten abbreviations clearly distinct from normal words. These could also be used to enable the important words on signs to be larger. Technically, it is called a superscripted minuscule letter.
With the coming of printing
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
, pieces of type were cast to enable them to appear in print. These are still commonly used in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, though their appearance in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
has diminished. Not every letter in the alphabet has a piece of type cast for it as a superior letter. In his book, Thinking in Type, Alex W. White says that there are only twelve such, and these are used in French and Spanish: a, b, d, e, i, l, m, n, o, r, s, and t.
Use in French
In French, for example, they appear in the abbreviation for "mademoiselle": Mlle. They also appear in abbreviations of titles: Mgr stands for "monseigneur". Their use in signage can be exemplified a fictitious storefront sign, Messrs Dupond & Dupont, Bandes Dessinées; on a sign, the name "Dupond" could appear nearer the corner, covered by "essrs".Use in Spanish
In Spanish they are known as letras voladas ("flying letters", in Spain) or voladitas (literally, "little flying" letters), and may or may not be underlined. It is ruled that a full stop must be added right before them, but in order to save space this rule is often ignored. This rule even applies for numbers.They are used to shorten any kind of word where there is not enough room for the entire one: F.ca de caramelos ("fábrica de caramelos", candy factory), but are more usual with ordinals: 3.er ("tercer", third); titles: D.a ("doña", mistress); personal compound given names F.co Javier (Francisco Javier), M.a Cristina (María Cristina) and regular administrative expressions: f.do ("firmado", signed).
Use in English
The English usage is primarily ordinal numerals: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and 4th; or, in the Chicago style, 2d and 3d. Similar to French usage, Mrs has seen use as well.In the eighteenth century, they were commonly used to abbreviate typical given names, such as Jos for "Joseph" or Wm for "William." They are still used occasionally.
Masculine and feminine ordinal indicators
Most of the manual and electric typewriterTypewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
s for Spanish and other languages have separated symbols devoted to o and a as a shorthand intended to be used primarily with ordinals: 1.o, 5.a ("primero" and "quinta", first and fifth in Spanish), etc.
In computing, early 8-bit character sets as code page 437
Code page 437
IBM PC or MS-DOS code page 437 is the character set of the original IBM PC. It is also known as CP 437, OEM 437, PC-8, MS-DOS Latin US or sometimes misleadingly referred to as the OEM font, High ASCII or Extended ASCII....
for the original IBM PC
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
(circa 1981) also had these characters. In ISO-8859-1 Latin-1, and later in Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
, they are assigned to and are known as U+00AA FEMININE ORDINAL INDICATOR (ª) and U+00BA MASCULINE ORDINAL INDICATOR (º). Here, "feminine" and "masculine" has some sense only for a few Romance languages, in which grammatical gender
Grammatical gender
Grammatical gender is defined linguistically as a system of classes of nouns which trigger specific types of inflections in associated words, such as adjectives, verbs and others. For a system of noun classes to be a gender system, every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be...
is usually denoted by the suffixes -a and -o, respectively (as in Spanish).
They are used as follows: prima vittoria, Italian for "first victory", can be written 1ª vittoria; secondo tempo, meaning "second time", can be written 2º tempo.
In the most of common available computer font
Computer font
A computer font is an electronic data file containing a set of glyphs, characters, or symbols such as dingbats. Although the term font first referred to a set of metal type sorts in one style and size, since the 1990s it is generally used to refer to a scalable set of digital shapes that may be...
s today, these characters are not underlined, and they seem merely superscripted a (a) and superscripted o (o, often confused with the degree sign ° due to this fact).
The Numero Sign
One abbreviation using a superior letter has been given its own, single-piece character, combining two characters: it's the Numero signNumero sign
The numero sign or numero symbol is a typographic abbreviation of the word number indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles...
. Originally, this was just another use of a superior "o", abbreviating numero, the word for "number" in several Romance languages, but it often appeared in English: e.g., No 2 pencil, for "number-two pencil".
In Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
, it is assigned to character U+2116 NUMERO SIGN (№) within the Letterlike Symbols block.
N-th power of a number
Both the code page 437Code page 437
IBM PC or MS-DOS code page 437 is the character set of the original IBM PC. It is also known as CP 437, OEM 437, PC-8, MS-DOS Latin US or sometimes misleadingly referred to as the OEM font, High ASCII or Extended ASCII....
(position 252) and Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
(U+207F SUPERSCRIPT LATIN SMALL LETTER N) have a character to represent the n-th power of a number or variable in mathematics, for example . This superscript usage of the lowercase n it is not considered as superior letter at all.
See also
- Subscript and superscriptSubscript and superscriptA subscript or superscript is a number, figure, symbol, or indicator that appears smaller than the normal line of type and is set slightly below or above it – subscripts appear at or below the baseline, while superscripts are above...
- Ordinal indicatorOrdinal indicatorIn written languages, an ordinal indicator is a sign adjacent to a numeral denoting that it is an ordinal number, rather than a cardinal number. The exact sign used varies in different languages.- English :...
- Numero signNumero signThe numero sign or numero symbol is a typographic abbreviation of the word number indicating ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles...
- Degree sign