Editing Ordinal indicator (section)

{{Short description|Character(s) following an ordinal number}}<!-- please do not add "(º,ª) as these are just two of many cases and are not used in English orthography --> 
{{Hatnote|{{char|º}} redirects here. For similar symbols, see [[circle symbol (disambiguation)]]}}
{{Infobox symbol|mark=◌ª {{!}} ◌º|name=Ordinal indicator <br />(feminine {{!}} masculine)
|unicode = {{Plainlist|
* {{Unichar|00AA|Feminine ordinal indicator|html=}}
* {{Unichar|00BA|Masculine ordinal indicator|html=}}
}}
|different from = {{Plainlist|
* {{Unichar|00B0|nlink=Degree sign}}
* {{Unichar|02DA|Ring above|nlink=ring (diacritic)}}
* {{Unichar|030A|combining ring above|nlink=ring (diacritic) |cwith=◌}}
* {{Unichar|1D52|Modifier letter small O|nlink=unicode subscripts and superscripts}}
* {{Unichar|1D3C|Modifier letter capital O|nlink=unicode subscripts and superscripts}}
* {{Unichar|2070|Superscript zero|nlink=unicode subscripts and superscripts}}
* {{Unichar|1D43|Modifier letter small A|nlink=unicode subscripts and superscripts}}
}}
}}{{Bots|deny=AWB}}<!-- The style 1<sup>st</sup> described below is intentional and is different from the style 1st. -->

In written languages, an '''ordinal indicator''' is a [[character (typography)|character]], or group of characters, following a [[Numerical digit|numeral]] denoting that it is an [[Ordinal number (linguistics)|ordinal number]], rather than a [[Names of numbers in English#Cardinal numbers|cardinal number]]. Historically these letters were "elevated terminals", that is to say the last few letters of the full word denoting the ordinal form of the number displayed as a [[superscript]]. Probably originating with [[Latin]] scribes, the character(s) used vary in different languages.

In [[English ordinal numbers|English orthography]], this corresponds to the suffixes ''{{nbh}}st'', ''{{nbh}}nd'', ''{{nbh}}rd'', ''{{nbh}}th'' in written ordinals (represented either on the line ''1st'', ''2nd'', ''3rd'', ''4th'' or as [[subscript and superscript|superscript]] {{notatypo|''1<sup>st</sup>'', ''2<sup>nd</sup>'', ''3<sup>rd</sup>'', ''4<sup>th</sup>''}}). Also commonly encountered in [[Romance languages]] are the superscript or [[Superior letter|superior]] (and often underlined) '''masculine ordinal indicator''', '''{{char|º}}''', and '''feminine ordinal indicator''', '''{{char|ª}}'''. In formal typography, the ordinal indicators {{char|ª}} and {{char|º}} are distinguishable from other characters.<ref name="mstyp">{{cite web |url=https://www.microsoft.com/typography/developers/fdsspec/lowercase.aspx |title=Microsoft typography—Character design standards |date=9 June 2022 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation |quote=''Note:'' Traditionally in Portuguese the ordinal characters should contain the underline. The underline helps avoid confusion between the masculine ordinal and the degree character. This is important at low resolution, such as the screen, when both characters are very similar in size and shape.}}</ref>

The practice of underlined (or doubly underlined) superscripted abbreviations was common in 19th-century writing (not limited to ordinal indicators in particular, and extant in the [[numero sign]] {{char|№}}), and was found in handwritten English until at least the late 19th century (e.g. ''first'' abbreviated ''{{notatypo|''1<sup><u>st</u></sup>''}}'' or ''1<sup>{{double underline|st}}</sup>'').<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Max Harold Fisch |author2=Christian J. W. Kloesel |date=1989 |chapter=Essay on the Editorial Method |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/writingsofcharle0002peir/page/629 |title=Writings of Charles S. Peirce: 1879–1884 |volume=4 |page=629 |isbn=978-0-2533-7201-7 |quote=Peirce also regularly used the nineteenth-century calligraphic convention of double underlining superscript portions of abbreviations such as M<sup>{{Double underline|r}}</sup> or 1<sup>{{Double underline|st}}</sup>.}}</ref>