Numero sign
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The Numero sign (U+2116) or Number sign is used in many languages to indicate ordinal numeration, especially in names and titles, for example, instead of writing the long "Number 4 Privet Drive" one would write the numero sign so: "№ 4 Privet Drive", and spoken as if written long.
The numero symbol combines the upper-case Latin letter "N" with a superscript lower-case letter "o", sometimes underlined, resembling the masculine ordinal indicator.
The word numero is Italian for "number", equivalents are numéro in French; and número in Spanish and Portuguese. All derive from the Latin numerus (NVMERVS in inscriptions), of the same meaning.
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[edit] Usage in natural languages
In Spanish, the numero sign is not a single symbol, but merely the word "número" abbreviated per the language's typographic convention of the superior letters (Spanish: "letras voladitas", "little flying letters"), wherein the final letter(s) of the abbreviated word are written as underlined lower-case superscripts: no and No (singular), nos and Nos (plural). Other flying letter examples are: "Fco" for "Francisco"; "Ma" for "María"; "fdo" for "firmado" ("signed"). The substitutive form "No." is unacceptable because it might be confused for the negative particle "no".
In French, the № symbol can, likewise, mean "number" (numéro), and is written and understood several ways, with or without superscript letters, underlining, or a period. Note that "no" (a particle in English) is not a word in French, and so would not be confused as the French negative, "non", as might occur in English, Italian, and Spanish; examples: №, no., No
Although the letter "N" is not in the cyrillic alphabet, the numero sign is typeset in Russian publishing, and is in Russian computer and typewriter keyboards [1]. Moreover, it is not a standard alphabetic symbol in all European languages; in German, the abbreviation (with full stop) for "number" is "Nr." (Nummer).
[edit] Typing the symbol
On typewriters and computers that do not support this symbol, it is acceptable and commonplace to substitute it with the trigraph "No." (letter "N", letter "o", and a period (full stop)).
On typewriters and computers that support the degree sign or (preferably) masculine ordinal indicator, a digraph starting with "N", such as "N°" or "Nº", may suffice as a substitute for the numero sign, but only if it is to be presented exclusively within visual media, in a typeface and sizing that results in a passable approximation of the numero sign. Such digraphs are inappropriate for representing the numero sign in computer data, in general.
On Russian computer keyboards, № is often located on the "3" key, instead of the pounds (or other number sign, "#").
In Mac OS X, the character can be typed using "U.S. Extended" keyboard by typing shift-option-; (semicolon).
In HTML, the numero sign (if it cannot be entered directly) may be represented by № or №.
The Unicode Standard states:
- U+2116 NUMERO SIGN is provided both for Cyrillic use, where it looks like [semi-cursive "N" followed by raised, underlined small "o"], and for compatibility with Asian standards, where it looks like [angular "N" followed by raised, underlined small "o", followed by a period]. The French practice is not to use the symbol character per se, but rather to use an “N” or an “n”, according to context, followed by a superscript o (No or no; plural Nos or nos).[1]
