Angle Bracket Symbol — Copy Paste ⟨ ⟩〈 〉 ❬ ❭

Angle brackets are among the most versatile symbols in digital text. Whether you're writing mathematics, coding, or adding a stylistic touch to your documents, angle brackets have a role to play. On this page you'll find every angle bracket variant ready to copy and paste, along with their history, meanings, and keyboard shortcuts.

Copy and Paste Angle Bracket Symbols

Click any symbol below to copy it to your clipboard. Each one is a distinct Unicode character with its own code point.

What Are Angle Brackets?

Angle brackets (also called chevrons or pointy brackets) are punctuation marks shaped like sideways V's. Unlike the standard less-than and greater-than signs on your keyboard, true angle brackets have a slightly different design — they're typically wider and more open. In Unicode, they are distinct characters with separate code points from the basic ASCII comparison operators.

Mathematicians use angle brackets to denote inner products: ⟨a, b⟩. Programmers encounter them in HTML tags and generic type parameters. Linguists use them to represent orthographic representation: 〈word〉. And typographers use guillemets (‹ › « ») as quotation marks in many European languages including French, Italian, and Russian.

Angle Bracket Variants and Unicode

Not all angle brackets are created equal. Here's a breakdown of each variant and where you'll encounter it:

• ⟨ ⟩ (U+27E8, U+27E9) — Mathematical left and right angle brackets. The go-to for math notation and formal writing.
• 〈 〉 (U+3008, U+3009) — CJK left and right angle brackets. Common in East Asian text and linguistic notation.
• ❬ ❭ (U+276C, U+276D) — Ornamental heavy angle brackets. Used decoratively.
• ‹ › (U+2039, U+203A) — Single guillemets. Used as quotation marks in some European languages.
• « » (U+00AB, U+00BB) — Double guillemets. Standard quotation marks in French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian typography.

How to Type Angle Brackets on Your Keyboard

Windows

For the mathematical brackets ⟨ ⟩ on Windows, the easiest method is to press Win + . to open the emoji picker, switch to the symbols tab, and search. Alternatively, use the Character Map (press Win, type "Character Map").

Mac

For ⟨ ⟩ on Mac, use Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer and search for "left angle bracket."

Mobile (iPhone and Android)

On both iPhone and Android, the standard keyboard doesn't have dedicated angle bracket keys. The easiest approach is to copy the symbol you need from this page. Alternatively, install a Unicode keyboard app or use your phone's built-in symbol keyboard — guillemets (‹ › « ») sometimes appear under the punctuation section on international keyboards.

History of Angle Brackets

Angle brackets have been around for centuries. Guillemets (« ») were introduced by French typographer Guillaume in the 16th century — the name "guillemet" is actually a diminutive of Guillaume. They became standard quotation marks in French typography and spread to other European languages.

The mathematical use of angle brackets for inner products emerged in the 19th century, popularized by mathematicians working in linear algebra and quantum mechanics. In the bra-ket notation introduced by Paul Dirac, ⟨φ| represents a "bra" and |ψ⟩ represents a "ket" — together forming ⟨φ|ψ⟩ for inner products in Hilbert space.

In computing, angle brackets became ubiquitous with the rise of HTML and XML in the 1990s. Every web page is built with tags enclosed in angle brackets. Programming languages like C++, Java, and TypeScript also use them for generic types.

Common Uses of Angle Brackets

• Mathematics: Inner products ⟨a, b⟩, group theory notation
• Linguistics: Orthographic or graphemic representation 〈cat〉
• Programming: HTML/XML tags, generic type parameters
• Typography: Guillemets as quotation marks in European languages
• Physics: Dirac bra-ket notation in quantum mechanics
• Email: Angle brackets wrap email addresses in headers

Angle Brackets vs. Less-Than / Greater-Than

People often confuse angle brackets with the standard less-than and greater-than keys on a keyboard. They are different characters. The ASCII less-than (U+003C) and greater-than (U+003E) signs are narrower and used primarily in math comparisons and HTML tags. True angle brackets ⟨ ⟩ (U+27E8, U+27E9) are wider and carry specific typographic and mathematical meaning. When precision matters — especially in academic or multilingual contexts — use the correct Unicode character.