Anführungszeichen
Gepaarte Satzzeichen, die direkte Rede oder Zitate einschließen. Unicode enthält gerade Anführungszeichen (""), typografische (""), Guillemets (« »), CJK-Klammern (「」) und gebietsspezifische Formen.
What are Quotation Marks?
Quotation marks are punctuation characters used to indicate direct speech, quotations, titles, or special usage of a word. The typographic diversity of quotation marks across languages and writing systems is remarkable: there are more than a dozen distinct quotation mark styles in active use worldwide, each with its own Unicode code points, directionality, and placement conventions.
The most critical typographic distinction is between straight quotes (" and ') — the marks on your keyboard — and curly/smart quotes (" " and ' ') — the typographically correct forms that curve toward the quoted text. Straight quotes are a typewriter-era compromise; curly quotes are the proper typographic form for body text.
The Main Quotation Mark Characters
| Character | Unicode | Name | Used In |
|---|---|---|---|
| " | U+0022 | Quotation Mark (straight) | Programming, markup |
| ' | U+0027 | Apostrophe (straight) | Programming, markup |
| " | U+201C | Left Double Quotation Mark | English (primary) |
| " | U+201D | Right Double Quotation Mark | English (primary) |
| ' | U+2018 | Left Single Quotation Mark | English (secondary) |
| ' | U+2019 | Right Single Quotation Mark | English (secondary) |
| „ | U+201E | Double Low-9 Quotation Mark | German, Czech (opening) |
| « | U+00AB | Left-Pointing Double Angle Mark | French, Russian |
| » | U+00BB | Right-Pointing Double Angle Mark | French, Russian |
| ‹ | U+2039 | Single Left-Pointing Angle Mark | French (secondary) |
| › | U+203A | Single Right-Pointing Angle Mark | French (secondary) |
| 「 | U+300C | Left Corner Bracket | Japanese, Chinese |
| 」 | U+300D | Right Corner Bracket | Japanese, Chinese |
Quotation Conventions by Language
| Language | Primary | Secondary | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| English (US) | "…" | '…' | Comma inside closing quote |
| English (UK) | '…' | "…" | Reversed nesting |
| German | „…" | ‚…' | Opening marks at baseline |
| French | «…» | ‹…› | Non-breaking space before « and after » |
| Russian | «…» | „…" | Same as French outer |
| Japanese | 「…」 | 『…』 | Corner brackets |
| Chinese (simplified) | "…" | '…' | Same shapes as English |
| Swedish | "…" | '…' | Closing mark used for both |
Apostrophes
The right single quotation mark (U+2019, ') also serves as the apostrophe in typographic text. This matters because:
- The straight apostrophe (U+0027) is the same character as the straight single quote
- Straight apostrophes can cause issues in SQL strings and some programming contexts
- Smart apostrophes improve visual quality: don't vs don't
Typing Curly Quotes
- macOS:
"and"with Option+[ and Option+Shift+[ - Word processors: auto-convert straight quotes to curly (smart quotes setting)
- HTML entities:
“”‘’ - HTML numeric:
“”‘’
<blockquote>“The quick brown fox”</blockquote>
<!-- renders as: "The quick brown fox" -->
Quick Facts
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Straight double quote | U+0022 — keyboard " |
| Curly opening double | U+201C " |
| Curly closing double | U+201D " |
| German opening mark | U+201E „ (low-9 form) |
| Guillemets (French) | U+00AB « and U+00BB » |
| Typographic apostrophe | U+2019 ' (= right single quote) |
| Japanese quote | U+300C 「 and U+300D 」 |
| HTML left double entity | “ |
| HTML right double entity | ” |
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