Circled and Enclosed Number Symbols

Enclosed numbers are Unicode characters where a digit or number is wrapped inside a geometric shape — a circle, parentheses, or a filled (negative) circle. These precomposed characters date back to East Asian typography, where circled numbers have been standard annotation marks for centuries. Unicode encodes hundreds of enclosed number variants across several blocks, providing ready-to-use numbered markers that work in plain text without any CSS or image support. This guide catalogs every enclosed number character in Unicode, explains the block structure, and provides practical guidance for developers and designers.

Quick Copy-Paste Table: Circled Numbers

Unicode Blocks for Enclosed Numbers

Enclosed numbers are spread across several Unicode blocks. Understanding the block structure helps you find the right character:

Circled Numbers ①–⑳ (U+2460–U+2473)

The Enclosed Alphanumerics block provides circled numbers from 1 to 20. These are the most commonly used enclosed numbers and have the best font support:

<p>Steps to configure:
① Open settings
② Select network
③ Enter credentials
④ Save and restart</p>

The circled numbers are single code points — each one is a precomposed character, not a combining sequence. This means ① is U+2460 (one character), not "1" + "combining circle" (which does not exist in Unicode).

Extended Range: Circled 21–50

Unicode extends the circled number range to 50 in the Enclosed CJK Letters and Months block and supplementary blocks:

These higher numbers have less universal font support than ①–⑳. If you need numbers beyond 50 in circles, you must use CSS or SVG to create them — Unicode does not provide precomposed circled characters past 50.

Negative Circled Numbers (White on Black)

Negative circled numbers display the digit in white against a filled black circle. They provide high contrast and visual emphasis:

Negative circled numbers 11–20 are available in the Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement: ⓫ (U+24EB) through ⓴ (U+24F4).

There is also a negative circled zero: 🄌 (U+1F10C) in the Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block.

Parenthesized Numbers ⑴–⒇ (U+2474–U+2487)

These characters render a number inside parentheses as a single code point:

Why use a precomposed ⑴ instead of typing (1)? In East Asian typography, the parenthesized number occupies a single character cell width, maintaining alignment in monospaced and fixed-width CJK text layouts. In proportional Western text, the visual difference is minimal.

Full Stop Numbers ⒈–⒛ (U+2488–U+249B)

Unicode also encodes numbers followed by a full stop (period) as single characters:

These serve the same CJK typographic alignment purpose as parenthesized numbers.

Sans-Serif Circled Numbers

The Dingbats block includes a sans-serif circled number set with a lighter visual style:

These provide a visual alternative to the standard circled numbers.

Double Circled Numbers

For added emphasis, Unicode provides double-circled digits 1–10:

Enclosed Numbers in Programming

Working with enclosed numbers in code requires understanding their numeric value extraction:

# Python: converting enclosed numbers to integers
import unicodedata

char = "\u2460"  # ①
name = unicodedata.name(char)  # "CIRCLED DIGIT ONE"
numeric_value = unicodedata.numeric(char)  # 1.0

# Batch conversion for circled 1-20
circled_numbers = [chr(0x2460 + i) for i in range(20)]
# ['①', '②', '③', ..., '⑳']

# Convert circled number back to int
def circled_to_int(char: str) -> int | None:
    val = unicodedata.numeric(char, None)
    if val is not None:
        return int(val)
    return None

print(circled_to_int("⑦"))  # 7
print(circled_to_int("⑳"))  # 20

Generating Enclosed Numbers in JavaScript

// Generate circled numbers 1-20
const circled = Array.from({length: 20}, (_, i) =>
    String.fromCodePoint(0x2460 + i)
);
// ['①', '②', '③', ..., '⑳']

// Generate negative circled numbers 1-10
const negative = Array.from({length: 10}, (_, i) =>
    String.fromCodePoint(0x2776 + i)
);
// ['❶', '❷', '❸', ..., '❿']

Font Support and Rendering

For web projects targeting global audiences, include a CJK fallback font (like Noto Sans CJK) to ensure numbers beyond 20 render correctly.

Key Takeaways

• Unicode provides circled numbers 1–50, negative circled 1–20, parenthesized 1–20, full-stop 1–20, sans-serif circled 1–10, and double circled 1–10 as precomposed single characters.
• Circled 1–20 (U+2460–U+2473) have the best font support and are safe for general use.
• Numbers beyond 50 have no precomposed circled form in Unicode — use CSS or SVG.
• Each enclosed number is a single code point with a numeric value accessible via unicodedata.numeric() in Python.
• The Dingbats block adds negative (white-on-black) and sans-serif circled variants for visual variety.
• In CJK typography, enclosed numbers maintain single-cell-width alignment — the original motivation for encoding these as precomposed characters.