Degree Celsius Symbol (°C): How to Type and Copy It
The degree Celsius symbol, °C, is how you write a temperature on the Celsius scale — 20°C, 37°C, 100°C. It’s really two parts: the degree sign ° followed by a capital C. There’s also a single-character version, ℃, but as you’ll see below, it’s the one you should usually avoid. This page covers how to type °C on every device, how to write it correctly, and a couple of things about Celsius that other guides skip.
If you just need the symbol, copy °C (or the single ℃, or °F) from the grid below. If you want the shortcuts and the right way to write it, read on.
In a hurry?
- Copy it: click °C in the grid below.
- On Windows: hold Alt, type 0176 for °, then type C.
- On a Mac: press Shift + Option + 8 for °, then type C.
- Best practice: write ° + C, not the single ℃ character.
- In HTML: write °C (the degree entity followed by C).
Table of Contents
Copy and paste the degree Celsius symbol
The Celsius symbol in its forms, with the codes you’re likely to need. Use the grid above to copy with one click; this table is the reference.
| Symbol | What it is | Unicode | Windows | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| °C | degree sign + C | U+00B0 + C | Alt + 0176, then C | °C |
| ℃ | single character | U+2103 | Alt + 8451 | ℃ |
| °F | degrees Fahrenheit | U+00B0 + F | Alt + 0176, then F | °F |
The degree sign isn’t on an English keyboard, so °C takes a shortcut, a code, or a copy. The sections below cover each device, then the right way to write it.
How to type the degree Celsius symbol on any device
Type °C on Windows
Make the degree sign with the Alt code — turn on Num Lock, hold Alt, and type 0176 — then type a capital C. On a laptop with no keypad, press Windows + . for the symbol panel, search “degree,” insert °, then type C.
Type °C on Mac
Press Shift + Option + 8 for the degree sign °, then type C. That’s the standard degree shortcut on a Mac, and adding the C gives you °C. (Avoid Option + 0, which makes the masculine ordinal º, not a true degree sign.)
Type °C on iPhone and Android
Switch to the number keyboard (123) and press and hold the 0 to get the degree sign °, then type C. On iPhone, the Weather app and many keyboards also offer ° directly. Either way, ° then C gives you °C.
Type °C in Microsoft Word
Type the degree sign (00B0 then Alt + X, or Alt + 0176) and follow it with C. If you specifically want the single ℃ character, type 2103 then Alt + X — but the ° + C form is the better choice, for reasons in the next section.
Type °C on Linux
Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 00b0, then Enter for the degree sign, and add C. The single ℃ character is Ctrl + Shift + U, 2103, Enter.
Add °C in HTML and CSS
In HTML, write °C — the degree entity followed by a plain C. The single character is ℃, but °C is preferred. In CSS, the degree sign in a content value is \00B0.
The right way to write °C: degree + C, not the ℃ character
Here’s the thing almost no guide tells you: there are two ways to write the Celsius symbol, and the tidy-looking single character is the wrong one for most uses. The ℃ (U+2103) is a single glyph, and it exists mainly for compatibility with old East Asian text systems, not because anyone should type it. Unicode’s own guidance is to build the symbol from a degree sign followed by a letter C instead.
Why does it matter? The single ℃ can behave badly: it may not match a search for “°C,” it can break awkwardly at line ends, screen readers may not read it as “degrees Celsius,” and it can look out of place in a font that draws it differently from your text. The two-character ° + C, by contrast, is universally understood, searchable, and renders consistently. So use the ℃ only when a system specifically requires that single code point; for everything else — documents, web pages, data — write ° then C.
| Form | Use it for | Downside |
|---|---|---|
| ° + C | almost everything | none |
| ℃ (single char) | legacy CJK systems only | search, line breaks, screen readers |
Should there be a space: 20°C or 20 °C?
This one splits even careful writers. The official SI style (from the BIPM, which governs the metric system) puts a space between the number and the unit, keeping the ° and C together: 20 °C. By that rule, the space belongs there just as it does in “20 kg.”
In everyday writing, though, most publications and style guides close it up to 20°C, and that’s what the vast majority of readers see. Both are defensible: the strict scientific form is spaced (20 °C), the common form isn’t (20°C). Pick one and use it consistently. Whatever you choose, keep the ° and the C together — never split them across a line — and don’t put a space between the degree sign and the C.
°C vs °F: the conversion, and where they meet
Celsius and Fahrenheit measure the same thing on different scales, and converting is straightforward. To go from °C to °F: multiply by 9/5 and add 32. To go the other way, °F to °C: subtract 32, then multiply by 5/9. A rough mental shortcut for °C to °F is “double it and add 30,” which is close enough for weather.
And a genuinely fun fact: there’s exactly one temperature that reads the same on both scales — −40. That is, −40 °C equals −40 °F. It falls out of the maths (the two formulas cross there), and it’s the neat answer to “when is Celsius the same as Fahrenheit?”
| Celsius | Fahrenheit | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| 0°C | 32°F | water freezes |
| 37°C | 98.6°F | body temperature |
| 100°C | 212°F | water boils |
| −40°C | −40°F | the scales meet |
Why it’s called Celsius (and the upside-down original)
The scale is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius, who proposed it in 1742 — but here’s the twist: his original scale was upside down. Celsius set 0 as the boiling point of water and 100 as freezing. It was flipped to the familiar 0-freezing, 100-boiling arrangement shortly after his death, and that’s the version we use today.
The name has its own history too. For two centuries the scale was usually called centigrade (“hundred steps”). It was officially renamed Celsius in 1948, partly to honour its inventor and partly to avoid confusion with the grade (or gon), a unit of angle also called a centigrade. So “degrees centigrade” and “degrees Celsius” mean the same thing — Celsius is just the modern, official name.
℃ in code, spreadsheets, and search
The single ℃ character is where the two-form problem bites in practice. In a spreadsheet, if some cells hold “°C” and others hold “℃,” sorting and lookups treat them as different, and a filter for one misses the other. In Excel you can print the degree sign with =UNICHAR(176) and just append “C” (=A1&UNICHAR(176)&"C"), which keeps everything as the clean ° + C form.
For search and databases, the safest approach is to store temperatures as ° + C and, if you must accept the ℃ character from user input, normalise it to ° + C on the way in. In a URL, the single ℃ is percent-encoded as %E2%84%83, while a plain degree sign is %C2%B0. The takeaway is the same as before: prefer ° + C, and treat the single ℃ as something to convert away from.
Copy-paste HTML codes
Every code for the Celsius symbol in one place. Click a cell and copy.
| Symbol | Named / numeric | URL (percent) code | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| °C | °C | %C2%B0C | recommended |
| ℃ | ℃ | %E2%84%83 | avoid if possible |
| ° | ° | %C2%B0 | degree sign only |
In CSS, use \00B0 for the degree sign and follow it with C. For the degree sign on its own — angles, coordinates, and the spacing rules — see the full [degree symbol](/degree-symbol/) guide, and for typing symbols across devices the [keyboard shortcuts for symbols](/keyboard-shortcuts-for-symbols/) hub.
Troubleshooting
My °C shows as a box or garbled text
That’s an encoding mismatch: the UTF-8 bytes for the degree sign are being read as an older encoding. Set the file, database, and page charset to UTF-8 and °C displays correctly.
A search for °C won’t find ℃
They’re different characters. Store and type temperatures as ° + C, and normalise any single ℃ characters to ° + C so searches match.
My degree looks small or wrong
You’ve probably got the masculine ordinal º (Option + 0 on a Mac) instead of the degree sign ° (Shift + Option + 8). Copy the correct °C from the grid above.
FAQ
How do I type the degree Celsius symbol?
Make the degree sign, then add C. On Windows, Alt + 0176 then C. On a Mac, Shift + Option + 8 then C. On a phone, long-press 0 for °, then C. In HTML, write °C. Or click °C in the grid above.
Should I use ℃ or °C?
Use ° + C. The single ℃ character (U+2103) exists mainly for legacy East Asian systems and can cause search, line-break, and screen-reader problems. The two-character ° + C is preferred everywhere else.
Is there a space in 20°C?
Scientific SI style uses a space (20 °C); most everyday writing closes it up (20°C). Both are accepted, so be consistent. Never put a space between the degree sign and the C, and keep them together on one line.
At what temperature is Celsius the same as Fahrenheit?
At −40. That is, −40 °C equals −40 °F. It’s the one point where the two scales read the same number.
Is centigrade the same as Celsius?
Yes. “Centigrade” was the older name for the same scale; it was officially renamed “Celsius” in 1948 to honour Anders Celsius and to avoid confusion with the centigrade unit of angle.
