Vulgar Fraction One Quarter Symbol

A symbol from the Fraction Symbols collection. Click the symbol or the button below to copy.

Fraction Symbols collection

Symbol: ¼
Unicode: U+00BC
HTML entity: ¼
Category: Fraction Symbols

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4 of 20 in the fraction symbols collection

About the vulgar fraction one quarter symbol

Vulgar Fraction One Quarter is a precomposed typographic character representing the fraction one-fourth. It is drawn as a small numeral 1 placed directly above a small numeral 4, separated by a short horizontal line, all sized to fit within a single line of text. This character is used in recipes, measurements, mathematical notation, and any context where a compact representation of the fraction ¼ is needed without constructing it from individual digits and a slash. It belongs to the set of standard vulgar fractions found in early computer character sets for convenient typesetting.

How to type Vulgar Fraction One Quarter

Native keyboard shortcuts for each operating system — derived from the codepoint, so the steps below are always accurate.

Windows

2 options

Hold Alt and type 0188 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt.
Or, in Word: type 00BC then press Alt + X.

Numeric keypad required (laptops: enable Num Lock or use Fn).

macOS

2 options

Enable “Unicode Hex Input” in System Settings → Keyboard, then hold Option and type 00BC.
Or: Control + Command + Space opens the Character Viewer — search by name.