Web/CSS/text-emphasis

The text-emphasis CSS property applies emphasis marks to text (except spaces and control characters). It is a shorthand for text-emphasis-style and text-emphasis-color.

The source for this interactive example is stored in a GitHub repository. If you'd like to contribute to the interactive examples project, please clone https://github.com/mdn/interactive-examples and send us a pull request.

The text-emphasis property is quite different from text-decoration. The text-decoration property does not inherit, and the decoration specified is applied across the whole element. However, text-emphasis does inherit, which means it is possible to change emphasis marks for descendents.

The size of the emphasis symbol, like ruby symbols, is about 50% of the size of the font, and text-emphasis may affect line height when the current leading is not enough for the marks.

text-emphasis doesn't reset the value of text-emphasis-position. This is because if the style and the color of emphasis marks may vary in a text, it is extremely unlikely that their position will. In the very rare cases when this is needed, the property text-emphasis-position.

Constituent properties

This property is a shorthand for the following CSS properties:

Syntax

/* Initial value */
text-emphasis: none; /* No emphasis marks */

/* <string> value */
text-emphasis: 'x';
text-emphasis: '点';
text-emphasis: '\25B2';
text-emphasis: '*' #555;
text-emphasis: 'foo'; /* Should NOT use. It may be computed to or rendered as 'f' only */

/* Keywords value */
text-emphasis: filled;
text-emphasis: open;
text-emphasis: filled sesame;
text-emphasis: open sesame;

/* Keywords value combined with a color */
text-emphasis: filled sesame #555;

/* Global values */
text-emphasis: inherit;
text-emphasis: initial;
text-emphasis: unset;

Values

none: No emphasis marks.
filled: The shape is filled with solid color. If neither filled nor open is present, this is the default.
open: The shape is hollow.
dot: Display small circles as marks. The filled dot is '•' (U+2022), and the open dot is '◦' (U+25E6).
circle: Display large circles as marks. The filled circle is '●' (U+25CF), and the open circle is '○' (U+25CB). This is the default shape in horizontal writing modes when no other shape is given.
double-circle: Display double circles as marks. The filled double-circle is '◉' (U+25C9), and the open double-circle is '◎' (U+25CE).
triangle: Display triangles as marks. The filled triangle is '▲' (U+25B2), and the open triangle is '△' (U+25B3).
sesame: Display sesames as marks. The filled sesame is '﹅' (U+FE45), and the open sesame is '﹆' (U+FE46). This is the default shape in vertical writing modes when no other shape is given.
<string>: Display the given string as marks. Authors should not specify more than one character in <string>. The UA may truncate or ignore strings consisting of more than one grapheme cluster.
<color>: Defines the color of the mark. If no color is present, it defaults to currentcolor.

Formal definition

Initial value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `text-emphasis-style`: `none` `text-emphasis-color`: `currentcolor`
Applies to	all elements
Inherited	no
Computed value	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `text-emphasis-style`: as specified `text-emphasis-color`: computed color
Animation type	as each of the properties of the shorthand: `text-emphasis-color`: a color `text-emphasis-style`: discrete

Formal syntax

<'text-emphasis-style'> || <'text-emphasis-color'>

Examples

A heading with emphasis shape and color

This example draws a heading with triangles used to emphasize each character.

CSS

h2 {
  text-emphasis: triangle #D55;
}

HTML

<h2>This is important!</h2>

Result

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
CSS Text Decoration Module Level 3The definition of 'text-emphasis' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`text-emphasis`	Chrome Full support 25 Prefixed' Full support 25 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Edge Full support 79 Prefixed' Full support 79 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Firefox Full support 46 Full support 46 No support 45 — 49 Disabled' Disabled' From version 45 until version 49 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `layout.css.text-emphasis.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	IE No support No	Opera Full support 15 Prefixed' Full support 15 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Safari Full support 6.1 Full support 6.1 Full support 6.1 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	WebView Android Full support 4.4 Prefixed' Full support 4.4 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Chrome Android Full support 25 Prefixed' Full support 25 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Firefox Android Full support 46 Full support 46 No support 45 — 49 Disabled' Disabled' From version 45 until version 49 (exclusive): this feature is behind the `layout.css.text-emphasis.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	Opera Android Full support 14 Prefixed' Full support 14 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Safari iOS Full support 7 Full support 7 Full support 7 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.5 Prefixed' Full support 1.5 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: -webkit-

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
User must explicitly enable this feature.': User must explicitly enable this feature.
Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.': Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.