Tipografía

Comilla

Signos de puntuación emparejados que encierran discurso directo o citas. Unicode incluye comillas rectas (""), tipográficas (""), comillas angulares (« »), corchetes CJK (「」) y formas específicas de cada idioma.

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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>&ldquo;The quick brown fox&rdquo;</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 &ldquo;
HTML right double entity &rdquo;

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