Greater-Than Overlapping Less-Than

⪤ is a mathematical relation sign; its name alone does not specify a comparison. Read it from the surrounding notation or definition. The glyph has no universal algebraic reading.

Text symbol

What ⪤ means

The exact comparison depends on the notation that defines it. The MathML operator dictionary, a resource for computer-readable math, labels ⪤ an infix operator (a sign between terms) but gives no rule for its relation. Check the notation key or the definition in the document.

A Unicode technical memo from 1999 and a 2000 Math Symbols proposal place it among mathematical relation signs. ISOAMSR, a catalogue of mathematical relation signs, also lists separate “or” () and “beside” () forms.

Don't confuse it with

≷

Greater-Than Or Less-Than

The “greater than or less than” form is a separate relation sign, without ⪤’s overlapping arrangement.

⪥

Greater-Than Beside Less-Than

The “beside” form puts the two signs side by side rather than overlapping them.

Questions people ask

Why does ⪤ show as a box on some devices?

Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.