About the letter R in fancy fonts
R combines P's bowl with a diagonal leg, and the leg is what fancy styles play with. Script โ extends it into a sweeping tail, gothic โ makes it sharp and ornate, and double-struck โ is one of the most recognisable letters in mathematics.
Copy any style below. R has three styles from the older Letterlike Symbols block, which the next sections explain.
Where the letter R comes from
R comes from the Phoenician resh, meaning "head", drawn as a head in profile. Greek made it rho (ฮก), which looks like a P. When Latin adopted a closed-loop P for the "p" sound, the two letters clashed, so the Romans added a diagonal leg to rho, creating R.
How R behaves in different styles
R has three Letterlike Symbols exceptions, second only to H:
- โ (Script Capital R, U+211B)
- โ (Black-Letter Capital R, U+211C), the mathematical symbol for the real part of a complex number
- โ (Double-Struck Capital R, U+211D), the symbol for the real numbers
All three are widely supported, but because they come from a different block than their neighbours, fonts sometimes draw them at slightly different sizes. If a word like "โโด๐โฏ" looks uneven (three blocks in four letters!), bold script ๐ก๐ธ๐ผ๐ฎ is uniform.
Circled โ looks like the registered trademark sign ยฎ but isn't the same character. Only ยฎ (U+00AE) means "registered".
Unicode characters for R and r
Each style is a separate Unicode character. Names and code points below come from the Unicode Character Database. Characters marked Letterlike come from the older Letterlike Symbols block, not the main math alphabet. A dash means Unicode has no character for that combination.
| Style | Capital R | Lowercase r |
|---|---|---|
| Script | โ U+211B ยท Script Capital R ยท Letterlike | ๐ U+1D4C7 ยท Mathematical Script Small R |
| Bold script | ๐ก U+1D4E1 ยท Mathematical Bold Script Capital R | ๐ป U+1D4FB ยท Mathematical Bold Script Small R |
| Fraktur (gothic) | โ U+211C ยท Black-Letter Capital R ยท Letterlike | ๐ฏ U+1D52F ยท Mathematical Fraktur Small R |
| Bold fraktur | ๐ฝ U+1D57D ยท Mathematical Bold Fraktur Capital R | ๐ U+1D597 ยท Mathematical Bold Fraktur Small R |
| Double-struck | โ U+211D ยท Double-Struck Capital R ยท Letterlike | ๐ฃ U+1D563 ยท Mathematical Double-Struck Small R |
| Bold serif | ๐ U+1D411 ยท Mathematical Bold Capital R | ๐ซ U+1D42B ยท Mathematical Bold Small R |
| Italic serif | ๐ U+1D445 ยท Mathematical Italic Capital R | ๐ U+1D45F ยท Mathematical Italic Small R |
| Bold sans | ๐ฅ U+1D5E5 ยท Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold Capital R | ๐ฟ U+1D5FF ยท Mathematical Sans-Serif Bold Small R |
| Monospace | ๐ U+1D681 ยท Mathematical Monospace Capital R | ๐ U+1D69B ยท Mathematical Monospace Small R |
| Circled | โ U+24C7 ยท Circled Latin Capital Letter R | โก U+24E1 ยท Circled Latin Small Letter R |
| Negative circled | ๐ ก U+1F161 ยท Negative Circled Latin Capital Letter R | — |
| Squared | ๐ U+1F141 ยท Squared Latin Capital Letter R | — |
| Negative squared | ๐ U+1F181 ยท Negative Squared Latin Capital Letter R | — |
| Fullwidth | ๏ผฒ U+FF32 ยท Fullwidth Latin Capital Letter R | ๏ฝ U+FF52 ยท Fullwidth Latin Small Letter R |
| Small capital | ส U+0280 ยท Latin Letter Small Capital R | — |
Where people use a fancy R
- Rose, Ruby and Riley. Script โ is popular for R names in bios.
- Real estate and realtor brands. Double-struck โ and bold serif ๐ look professional.
- Rock and rap artists. Gothic โ and bold fraktur ๐ฝ carry a heavier, darker mood.
FAQs about the letter R in different fonts
Can I use โ as a registered trademark symbol?
No. โ is Circled Latin Capital Letter R. The registered sign is ยฎ (U+00AE), and only ยฎ is recognised as the trademark mark.
Which R styles are Letterlike Symbols?
Script โ, gothic โ and double-struck โ. Their bold versions (๐ก, ๐ฝ) are in the main Mathematical Alphanumeric block.
Is there a small-caps r?
Yes: ส (Latin Letter Small Capital R, U+0280), a phonetic symbol for the French and German 'r' sound. It displays well on modern phones.