How to type Circled Minus
To type Circled Minus (⊖), press Alt + 8854 on Windows, holding Alt while typing the digits on the numeric keypad, or write ⊖ in HTML. On any system you can copy it from this page, or enter its codepoint U+2296 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2296 on Linux, or 2296 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Circled Minus
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2296
- Windows
- Alt + 8854 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 8854 | Above 255, so Windows will not accept it as typed. Copy the character instead. |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ⊖ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+2296 | CIRCLED MINUS |
Symbols related to Circled Minus
These are filed under circled in CLDR, the keyword list Unicode publishes alongside the names.
Other math symbols
⊖ lives in the Mathematical Operators block (U+2200-U+22FF), the core set of mathematical and logical operators. Within Unicode it is classified as Sm, a mathematical symbol. Software may lay it out with the spacing an operator expects.
What Circled Minus is used for
In mathematical notation ⊖ is a binary operator: it takes one operand on each side, and TeX sets a medium space either side of it so that the three parts read as a single expression rather than as three symbols in a row. That is the classification unicode-math gives it, and it is what decides how the symbol is set: $\ominus$ in LaTeX, in maths mode rather than in a sentence.
Unicode publishes a second list of names for ⊖ in CLDR, the keywords its own search data offers rather than the formal name, and they are difference, erosion and symmetric. Those words are what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Circled Minus is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches them as well as the Unicode name.
What Unicode says about Circled Minus
The standard recognises ⊖ under another name as well: symmetric difference. That is a formal alias, not a nickname, which is why it turns up in other people's documentation for the same codepoint.
The code chart points from ⊖ to circle with horizontal bar (U+29B5) and alchemical symbol for salt (U+1F714). These are the characters the standard thinks you might have meant instead, which makes them the ones worth checking when Circled Minus looks nearly right but not quite.
How Circled Minus behaves in software
⊖ takes one column in a terminal. It carries no direction of its own, so in a line that mixes English with Arabic or Hebrew it takes the direction of the text around it rather than forcing one.
What people ask about Circled Minus
When betting what does plus and minus mean?
⊖ is CIRCLED MINUS, encoded at U+2296. It is distinct from circle with horizontal bar (U+29B5) and alchemical symbol for salt (U+1F714), which the chart lists beside it precisely because they are confused for one another.
Every way to write Circled Minus
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2296 |
| Decimal | 8854 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 8A 96 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 22 96 |
| HTML entity | ⊖ |
| HTML numeric | ⊖ or ⊖ |
| CSS | \2296 |
| JavaScript | \u2296 |
| Python | \u2296 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%8A%96 |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\ominus$ |
| SVG | 2296.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ⊖ arrives as ⊖
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 8A 96 are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.