Learn English – the name of the symbols “<" and ">“

symbolstypographyword-choice

I know that ^ is called a caret, but this doesn't seem to apply to the similarly shaped but nonetheless different < and > symbols. The only names I've heard them called is the less-than sign and the greater-than sign, but those names seem rather informal and apply only to their use in math. The symbols are used in other contexts as well, so it seems they would have less specific names.

Does anyone know the technical term for these symbols? (I know that some symbols, like . and ( ), have different names in American and British English, so any differences there with < and > would be appreciated as well.)

Best Answer

You asked what the “technical name” is; those technical names are given in bold below, although there are others less formal as well.

The answer depends on precisely which character you mean. It might be a less-than sign, an angle quotation mark, or an angle bracket. In handwritten manuscripts and on primitive old-school typewriters there is no real difference, but in modern representations of actual characters and the fonts that use these, there is.

Mostly it comes down to one of the following four, with name assignments to numeric code points given as defined by the Unicode Standard, along with some of the more salient character properties like their general category and whether they are to be considered punctuation, a math character, and/or a type of quotation mark:

  1. U+003C <:   LESS-THAN SIGN
    Unicode character properties include General Category=Math Symbol; Math
  2. U+2039 ‹:  SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
    Unicode character properties include General Category=Initial Punctuation; Quotation Mark
  3. U+3009 〈: LEFT ANGLE BRACKET
    Unicode character properties include General Category=Open Punctuation
  4. ‭U+27E8 ⟨:  MATHEMATICAL LEFT ANGLE BRACKET
    Unicode character properties include General Category=Open Punctuation; Math

Notice how one and four are math although the first is a symbol and the last a punctuation mark, two is actually a kind of quotation mark, and both two and three are distinct sorts of punctuation that have corresponding close/final versions. All are bidirectionally mirrored in that they have corresponding right-hand versions.

These are supposed to be used for different things.

There are a lot of these, and you aren’t going to be able to reliably use your eyes to tell the difference between things like these:

  < 003C        LESS-THAN SIGN
  ‹ 2039        SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
 〈 3009        LEFT ANGLE BRACKET
 〈 2329        LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET
  ⟨ 27E8 ‭       MATHEMATICAL LEFT ANGLE BRACKET
 ﹤ FE64        SMALL LESS-THAN SIGN
 ＜ FF1C        FULLWIDTH LESS-THAN SIGN

And that's merely the start of it. Here are confusable pairs separated by a → symbol, first using their glyphs and then using their actual names:

〈 → ❬  LEFT ANGLE BRACKET → MEDIUM LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
〈 → ❬  LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET → MEDIUM LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
⟨ → ❬   MATHEMATICAL LEFT ANGLE BRACKET → MEDIUM LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
˂ → <   MODIFIER LETTER LEFT ARROWHEAD → LESS-THAN SIGN
ᐸ → <   CANADIAN SYLLABICS PA → LESS-THAN SIGN
ᚲ → <   RUNIC LETTER KAUNA → LESS-THAN SIGN
‹ → <   SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK → LESS-THAN SIGN
❮ → <   HEAVY LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK ORNAMENT → LESS-THAN SIGN
≪ → <<  MUCH LESS-THAN → LESS-THAN SIGN, LESS-THAN SIGN
⋘ → <<< VERY MUCH LESS-THAN → LESS-THAN SIGN, LESS-THAN SIGN, LESS-THAN SIGN
ᑅ → <·  CANADIAN SYLLABICS WEST-CREE PWA → LESS-THAN SIGN, MIDDLE DOT 
⋖ → <·  LESS-THAN WITH DOT → LESS-THAN SIGN, MIDDLE DOT 
Ⲵ → <·  COPTIC CAPITAL LETTER OLD COPTIC AIN → LESS-THAN SIGN, MIDDLE DOT 
⪥ → ><  GREATER-THAN BESIDE LESS-THAN → GREATER-THAN SIGN, LESS-THAN SIGN
ᑄ → ·<  CANADIAN SYLLABICS PWA → MIDDLE DOT, LESS-THAN SIGN

There are many more, of which these are merely a few of them. In the following tables, the number is the Unicode code point (character number) and the ALL CAPS NAME is the official technical name assigned to that number. There are also these bits:

  • The = entries are unofficial synonyms or common names, kind of like the common names used instead the formal scientific genus and species names in biology.
  • The x entries are basically SEE ALSOs for confusables.
  • The * entries are informative notes.
  <  003C        LESS-THAN SIGN
        x (single left-pointing angle quotation mark - 2039)
        x (left-pointing angle bracket - 2329)
        x (mathematical left angle bracket - 27E8)
        x (left angle bracket - 3008)
 >  003E        GREATER-THAN SIGN
        x (single right-pointing angle quotation mark - 203A)
        x (right-pointing angle bracket - 232A)
        x (mathematical right angle bracket - 27E9)
        x (right angle bracket - 3009)
 «  00AB        LEFT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
        = left guillemet
        = chevrons (in typography)
        * usually opening, sometimes closing
        x (much less-than - 226A)
        x (left double angle bracket - 300A)
 »  00BB        RIGHT-POINTING DOUBLE ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
        = right guillemet
        * usually closing, sometimes opening
        x (much greater-than - 226B)
        x (right double angle bracket - 300B)
 ‹  2039        SINGLE LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
        = left pointing single guillemet
        * usually opening, sometimes closing
        x (less-than sign - 003C)
        x (left-pointing angle bracket - 2329)
        x (left angle bracket - 3008)
 ›  203A        SINGLE RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK
        = right pointing single guillemet
        * usually closing, sometimes opening
        x (greater-than sign - 003E)
        x (right-pointing angle bracket - 232A)
        x (right angle bracket - 3009)
 ≪  226A        MUCH LESS-THAN
       x (left-pointing double angle quotation mark - 00AB)
 ≫  226B        MUCH GREATER-THAN
        x (right-pointing double angle quotation mark - 00BB)
 ≶  2276        LESS-THAN OR GREATER-THAN
 ≷  2277        GREATER-THAN OR LESS-THAN
 ⋖  22D6        LESS-THAN WITH DOT
 ⋗  22D7        GREATER-THAN WITH DOT
 ⋘  22D8        VERY MUCH LESS-THAN
 ⋙  22D9        VERY MUCH GREATER-THAN
 ⋚  22DA        LESS-THAN EQUAL TO OR GREATER-THAN
 ⋛  22DB        GREATER-THAN EQUAL TO OR LESS-THAN
 ⋜  22DC        EQUAL TO OR LESS-THAN
 ⋝  22DD        EQUAL TO OR GREATER-THAN
 ⋦  22E6        LESS-THAN BUT NOT EQUIVALENT TO
 ⋧  22E7        GREATER-THAN BUT NOT EQUIVALENT TO
 〈 2329        LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET
        x (less-than sign - 003C)
        x (single left-pointing angle quotation mark - 2039)
        x (mathematical left angle bracket - 27E8)
        : 3008 left angle bracket
 〉 232A        RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET
        x (greater-than sign - 003E)
        x (single right-pointing angle quotation mark - 203A)
        x (mathematical right angle bracket - 27E9)
        : 3009 right angle bracket
  ❬  276C       MEDIUM LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
    x (left-pointing angle bracket - 2329)
 ❭  276D       MEDIUM RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
    x (right-pointing angle bracket - 232A)
 ❮  276E       HEAVY LEFT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK ORNAMENT
    x (single left-pointing angle quotation mark - 2039)
 ❯  276F       HEAVY RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE QUOTATION MARK ORNAMENT
    x (single right-pointing angle quotation mark - 203A)
 ❰  2770       HEAVY LEFT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
 ❱  2771       HEAVY RIGHT-POINTING ANGLE BRACKET ORNAMENT
 ⨠  2A20        Z NOTATION SCHEMA PIPING
        x (much greater-than - 226B)
 ⩹  2A79        LESS-THAN WITH CIRCLE INSIDE
 ⩺  2A7A        GREATER-THAN WITH CIRCLE INSIDE
 ⩽  2A7D        LESS-THAN OR SLANTED EQUAL TO
        x (less-than or equal to - 2264)
 ⩾  2A7E        GREATER-THAN OR SLANTED EQUAL TO
        x (greater-than or equal to - 2265)
 ⪕  2A95        SLANTED EQUAL TO OR LESS-THAN
        x (equal to or less-than - 22DC)
 ⪖  2A96        SLANTED EQUAL TO OR GREATER-THAN
        x (equal to or greater-than - 22DD)
 ⪛  2A9B        DOUBLE-LINE SLANTED EQUAL TO OR LESS-THAN
 ⪜  2A9C        DOUBLE-LINE SLANTED EQUAL TO OR GREATER-THAN
 ⪡  2AA1        DOUBLE NESTED LESS-THAN
        = absolute continuity
        x (much less-than - 226A)
 ⪢  2AA2        DOUBLE NESTED GREATER-THAN
        x (much greater-than - 226B)
 ⪤  2AA4        GREATER-THAN OVERLAPPING LESS-THAN
 ⪥  2AA5        GREATER-THAN BESIDE LESS-THAN
 ⫷  2AF7        TRIPLE NESTED LESS-THAN
        x (very much less-than - 22D8)
 ⫸  2AF8        TRIPLE NESTED GREATER-THAN
        x (very much greater-than - 22D9)
 ⫹  2AF9        DOUBLE-LINE SLANTED LESS-THAN OR EQUAL TO
        x (less-than over equal to - 2266)
 ⫺  2AFA        DOUBLE-LINE SLANTED GREATER-THAN OR EQUAL TO
        x (greater-than over equal to - 2267)
 〈 3008        LEFT ANGLE BRACKET
        x (less-than sign - 003C)
        x (single left-pointing angle quotation mark - 2039)
        x (left-pointing angle bracket - 2329)
        x (mathematical left angle bracket - 27E8)
 〉 3009        RIGHT ANGLE BRACKET
        x (greater-than sign - 003E)
        x (single right-pointing angle quotation mark - 203A)
        x (right-pointing angle bracket - 232A)
        x (mathematical right angle bracket - 27E9)
 ﹤ FE64        SMALL LESS-THAN SIGN
        # <small> 003C
 ﹥ FE65        SMALL GREATER-THAN SIGN
        # <small> 003E
 ＜ FF1C        FULLWIDTH LESS-THAN SIGN
        # <wide> 003C
 ＞ FF1E        FULLWIDTH GREATER-THAN SIGN
        # <wide> 003E
Related Topic