Subscript Text Generator
Copyable subscript text for formulas like H₂O and CO₂, numeric indices like x₁, and supported lowercase letters.
Signs, punctuation, uppercase letters, and unsupported characters stay as entered. No lookalike substitutions.
Subscript examples for chemistry and math
Numeric subscripts can express atom counts or label variables. Numbers-only conversion leaves element names and variables at their original size; letters-and-numbers conversion also lowers supported lowercase letters.
| Input | Mode | Output |
|---|---|---|
| H2O + CO2 | Numbers only | H₂O + CO₂ |
| C6H12O6 | Numbers only | C₆H₁₂O₆ |
| x1 + x2 | Numbers only | x₁ + x₂ |
| a1 + x2 | Letters & numbers | ₐ₁ + ₓ₂ |
The converter changes every digit, not the meaning of a formula. In 2H2O, the leading coefficient would also become subscript; keep coefficients outside the converted text. Plus signs, minus signs, equals signs, and parentheses stay on the normal baseline.
A letter index such as xₙ is different from a numeric index: convert only n and append it to the normal x. Converting the whole expression in letters-and-numbers mode would lower both supported letters. Charges and powers generally need superscript rather than subscript.
Supported subscript letters and numbers
The Latin lowercase letters below have dedicated Unicode subscript forms. There is no complete a-z subscript alphabet: b, c, d, f, g, and q remain unchanged here. Uppercase and accented letters also remain unchanged rather than being silently lowercased or stripped of accents.
- a
- ₐ
- e
- ₑ
- h
- ₕ
- i
- ᵢ
- j
- ⱼ
- k
- ₖ
- l
- ₗ
- m
- ₘ
- n
- ₙ
- o
- ₒ
- p
- ₚ
- r
- ᵣ
- s
- ₛ
- t
- ₜ
- u
- ᵤ
- v
- ᵥ
- w
-
- x
- ₓ
- y
-
- z
-
All ten digits (0-9) have subscript forms:
- 0
- ₀
- 1
- ₁
- 2
- ₂
- 3
- ₃
- 4
- ₄
- 5
- ₅
- 6
- ₆
- 7
- ₇
- 8
- ₈
- 9
- ₉
Why do some subscript letters show as boxes?
A box or blank space usually means the current font lacks a glyph for that character. The encoded text can still be copied correctly, but the destination app needs a font that can display it. Unicode support and font support are not the same thing.
The versioned Unicode character database assigns U+209D to Latin subscript w, U+209E to Latin subscript y, and U+209F to Latin subscript z. The Age data marks all three as 18.0. These are Latin letters, not Greek lookalikes.
These newer letters may appear as boxes in older fonts. With Unicode 18.0 letters excluded, ordinary w, y, and z remain unchanged rather than being replaced with another alphabet. Display can still vary between apps and devices.
Sources: Unicode 18.0 character data; Version assignment data.
Unicode subscript vs. document formatting
Unicode subscript is plain text, not a downloaded font or an image. Copying preserves the characters, but apps can reject or normalize them, and screen readers may pronounce them differently. Keep a normal-text version for important information.
For a complete alphabet in a document, use the editor's subscript formatting. On a web page, semantic <sub> markup can render text below the baseline without changing its letters. That formatting is not guaranteed to survive a plain-text paste.