What ₋ means
It is a minus sign placed at subscript height.
A minus sign below text is also called “minus inferior” or “subscript hyphen-minus.” Use ₋ when plain text must keep its lowered position.
By 1489, European printed arithmetic used the ordinary minus for business surpluses and deficits; it later settled into subtraction. MathML and TeX, systems for laying out formulas, structure subscripts; use ₋ in plain text when formatting is unavailable.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Can I use ₋ in MathML or TeX?
No. Use their subscript formatting; ₋ is for plain text when formatted subscripts are unavailable.
How to type ₋
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 208B, 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 “subscript minus”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 208b, then Enter or Space.
HTML
₋CSS
\208BCodes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
₋
HTML hex
₋
CSS content
content: "\208B";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%82%8B
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.