Dagger †

The Dagger character (†) is a standard HTML entity defined in the HTML specification. In HTML source code, it can be written using the named entity reference †, the decimal numeric character reference †, or the hexadecimal numeric reference †. The character is assigned Unicode code point U+2020 in the Universal Character Set.

The dagger (†) is a typographic symbol used primarily as a reference mark for footnotes. It is the second footnote symbol after the asterisk (*) in the traditional sequence. In academic and scientific publishing, the dagger is also used to mark deceased persons, especially in biographical listings and author credits.

Symbol entities encompass a wide variety of special characters used in legal disclaimers, intellectual property notices, typographic ornaments, card suit indicators, and miscellaneous notation throughout web content. These characters appear in website footers for copyright notices, product pages for trademark symbols, academic papers for dagger footnote markers, and decorative or gaming contexts for card suits and stars.

When deciding how to encode the Dagger character in your HTML documents, the named entity † is generally the most readable choice for developers reviewing or maintaining source code. The decimal form † and hexadecimal form † are equally valid alternatives that work in contexts where named entities may not be supported, or when generating HTML output programmatically from server-side code. All three representations produce identical visual output in every modern web browser.

Use the dagger as a footnote reference mark (the second in sequence after *), to indicate deceased individuals in biographical content, and in academic citations. For a third footnote symbol, use the double dagger (‡). In medical literature, † often marks patient deaths in study results.