Subscript Generator

What subscript is

Subscript text is smaller and sits lower than the normal line of writing. You see it every day in chemistry, where H₂O means two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen, and in maths, where x₁ and x₂ name the first and second values of x.

Word processors draw subscript with a formatting button. Most other places cannot. A chat app, a social post, a spreadsheet cell or a plain text email has no subscript option. This generator uses Unicode characters that are already small and low, so the effect survives copy and paste.

How to use the generator

1. Type into the Your text box. Clear empties it.
2. Three results appear at the top, each in large type with a Copy button.
3. Pick the one that suits your text and copy it.
4. The More styles list below shows the same text in other styles, including superscript and small caps.

The three results do different jobs:

• Subscript converts everything it can, letters and numbers alike. Use it for a whole word written low.
• Chemical formula only lowers numbers that come right after a letter or a closing bracket. The rest of your text stays as it is. A caret marks a charge, which goes up instead of down.
• Subscript notation (x_1 to x₁) only converts what follows an underscore. Use one character, a run of digits, or a group in brackets: a_(n+1) or T_{max}.

Examples

These were produced by the tool on this page:

The sample in the box, “H2O and x_1”, shows why the three styles exist. Plain Subscript gives ₕ₂ₒ ₐₙd ₓ_₁, which lowers far too much. Chemical formula gives H₂O and x_1. Subscript notation gives H2O and x₁. Each one only changes what you asked it to.

How it works

Every subscript character here is a separate Unicode code point:

• Digits ₀ to ₉ run from U+2080 to U+2089.
• The signs ₊ ₋ ₌ ₍ ₎ follow at U+208A to U+208E.
• Most letters sit in the same block, from ₐ (U+2090) to ₜ (U+209C).
• Four more, ᵢ ᵣ ᵤ ᵥ, come from the Phonetic Extensions block (U+1D62 to U+1D65), and ⱼ is U+2C7C.

That gives 17 letters in total. The missing ones are b, c, d, f, g, q, w, y and z. When your text contains them, they stay full size. Capital letters also have no subscript form, so the plain Subscript style uses the small letter instead, which is why the H in H2O becomes ₕ.

The Chemical formula style looks for a letter, a closing round bracket or a closing square bracket followed by digits, and lowers only those digits. It handles charges first: a caret followed by a number and a sign, such as ^2-, is turned into raised characters.

Tips

• A single charge sign needs only the caret. NH4^+ becomes NH₄⁺ and Cl^- becomes Cl⁻.
• Coefficients stay full size. In 2H₂, the leading 2 is a count of molecules, so the tool leaves it normal.
• Use brackets in notation for anything longer than one letter. x_10 gives x₁₀ because digits are grouped, but x_ij gives xᵢj. Write x_(ij) to get xᵢⱼ.
• Check readability. Subscript digits are small. In a dense spreadsheet or on a phone, make sure readers can still tell ₆ from ₈.

Limits

These are look-alike characters, not formatting. Screen readers usually read ₂ as “subscript two”, which is fine for a formula but tiresome for a sentence. Search tools may not match H₂O when someone types H2O. Keep the plain version nearby in documents people need to search.

Font support is good for digits and the common letters on current phones and computers. The phonetic letters, such as ᵣ and ᵤ, can look a little different in size from the rest on some fonts.

Related tools

For raised text, exponents and footnote numbers, use the superscript generator. For small caps and other tiny styles in one place, see the small text generator. If you are sent text full of subscript or other special characters and need plain letters, paste it into the Unicode to text converter.