What 8 means
In English, “eight” sounds like “ate.”
Read “I 8 already” aloud and you get “I ate already.” But “meet at 8” is a time, not a word puzzle. In h8 (hate), the digit supplies the sound and the letters around it do the rest.
Neutral as a number; playful and informal as English word shorthand.
Don't confuse it with
4Combination ideas
3great
mate, as in “friend”
Japanese online applause: eight is “hachi”, close to the clapping sound “pachi pachi”.
Questions people ask
1Is printable 8 the same as ASCII backspace?
No. Printable 8 is a digit; ASCII code 8 identifies the non-printing Backspace control character. Typing 8 does not send that control character.
How to type 8
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 0038, then Alt+X to get 8.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “digit eight”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 0038, then Enter or Space.
HTML
8CSS
\0038Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
8
HTML hex
8
CSS content
content: "\0038";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
8
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
1
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.

