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’

right single quotation mark

Right Single Quotation Mark

’ is the curly apostrophe, also called the smart apostrophe: in English it marks missing letters or possession, as in don’t and Sam’s. The same character closes a single quotation, as in ‘hello’. Swapping it for a straight ' changes the look, not the meaning.

Text symbol
Also called
smart apostrophe · typographic apostrophe · single quote
Search it as
apostrophe · curly apostrophe
Shows up in
Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What ’ means

Its position tells you its job. It replaces the missing o in don’t. In the writers’ room, it shows the room belongs to several writers. In ‘hello’, it ends the quotation.

Unicode recommends this same character for the apostrophe, so a smart apostrophe and a closing single quote share one code. An apostrophe-like mark is documented in France in the 16th century for omitted letters or short words.

The curved shape alone doesn’t make a message formal.

For ordinary English plurals, write CDs, not CD’s.

Don't confuse it with

2
'
Apostrophe
The straight apostrophe: a different character used as a general-purpose substitute.
′
Prime
Apostrophe vs prime: ′ marks measurements or mathematical notation, not missing letters.

Questions people ask

1

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.

How to type ’

Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2019, then Alt+X to get ’.
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 “right single quotation mark”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2019, then Enter or Space.
HTML
’
CSS
\2019
How to type a curly apostrophe
Turn on smart quotes in your editor or phone keyboard; it curls the straight ' key as you type.
Mac
**Option+Shift+]** on a US layout.
Windows
Hold **Alt** and type **0146** on the numeric keypad.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
’
HTML hex
’
CSS content
content: "\2019";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%80%99
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes

A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.

Families this belongs to

1

Typography & punctuation332 symbols

‼️❗⁉️❓❔❕〰️!"#%&