HTML <sup> tag
The <sup> tag is used to define superscript text, which appears half a character above the regular line and is rendered smaller than the rest of the text. The tag is commonly used to define footnotes and formulas.
You must use the <sup> tag only for typographical reasons. It shouldn’t be used for styling purposes. If you want to change the vertical position of text, you can use the CSS vertical-align property with the super value.
TIP
The <sub> tag is used to define the subscript.
Here are some use cases for a <sup> element:
- Representing superior lettering in certain languages or abbreviations.
- Representing exponents (e.g. "x2.").
- Representing ordinal numbers (e.g. "5th" instead of "fifth").
Note: Use superscript text only for typographical purposes. Avoid using it to hide important information, as assistive technologies may skip or mispronounce it.
Syntax
The <sup> tag comes in pairs. The content is written between the opening (<sup>) and closing (</sup>) tags.
Example of the HTML <sup> tag:
HTML <sup> tag
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>
<body>
<p>
E = mc<sup>2</sup>, where E is the energy of the object, m is the weight, c is the light speed in vacuum.
</p>
</body>
</html>Result
Example of the HTML <sup> tag used with the CSS vertical-align property:
Example of the HTML <sup> tag
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
sup {
vertical-align: super;
font-size: medium;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Example of the sup tag</h1>
<p>
Here is some text <sup>with the sup tag</sup>.
</p>
<p>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis ...
</p>
<p>
Reference site about Lorem Ipsum,
<sup>giving information on its origins</sup>, as well as a random Lipsum generator.
</p>
</body>
</html>Example of the HTML <sup> tag used with the <sub> tag:
Example of the HTML <sup> tag with the <sub> tag
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
<style>
sup {
vertical-align: super;
font-size: medium;
}
sub {
vertical-align: sub;
font-size: small;
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Example of the sup and sub tags</h1>
<p>
Here is some text
<sub>with the sub tag</sub>.
</p>
<p>
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis ...
</p>
<p>
Reference site about Lorem Ipsum,
<sup>giving information on its origins</sup>, as well as a random Lipsum generator.</p>
</body>
</html>Attributes
The <sup> tag supports Global attributes and the Event Attributes.
Practice
What is the correct usage and purpose of the HTML <sup> tag?