{{Short description|Northern European form of minus sign}} {{Redirect-distinguish|⁒|⸓|٪|%}} {{Infobox symbol |mark=⁒ |name=Commercial minus sign |unicode = {{unichar|2052|Commercial minus sign|html=}} |different from = {{unichar|0025|Percent sign|nlink=}}<br />{{unichar|F7|Division sign|nlink= }}<br />{{unichar|066A|Arabic percent sign|nlink=}} }}
The '''commercial minus sign''' ({{langx|de|abzüglich}}, {{langx|sv|med avdrag av}})<ref name=UC /> is a typographical and mathematical symbol used in commercial and financial documents in some European languages, in specific contexts.
==As a symbol for arithmetic negation== thumb|A {{code|÷}} being used as a sign of subtraction in this excerpt from an official Norwegian trading statement form called {{Lang|no|Næringsoppgave 1}}, used for tax purposes. In some commercial and financial documents, especially in Germany and Scandinavia, the symbol {{code|÷}} was used to indicate subtraction or to denote a negative quantity.<ref>{{cite book|title= Kaufmännische Arithmetik oder allgemeines Rechenbuch für Banquiers, Kaufleute, Manufakturisten, Fabrikanten und deren Zöglinge. | author= Johann Philipp Schellenberg |url=https://archive.org/details/11739896bsb/page/n5/mode/2up| page = [https://archive.org/details/11739896bsb/page/211/mode/1up 211]| lang=DE | date=1812 |quote=Tara abgezogen werden sollen, wie viel wird der erhaltene Reils dann netto betragen? Antw. 42{{citefrac|7|8}} Zentn. ÷ 8 Pfd., wie hier folgt: |trans-quote=After deducting the tare weight, what will the net amount of the received amount be? Answer: 42{{citefrac|7|8}} Zentn. ÷ 8 Pfd., as follows:}}</ref><ref name=Silli>{{cite web |url=http://unicode.org/pipermail/unicode/2014-January/000013.html |title=Commercial minus as italic variant of division sign in German and Scandinavian context |author=Leif Halvard Silli |website=Unicode.org |access-date=2020-04-04 |archive-date=2019-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614233459/http://unicode.org/pipermail/unicode/2014-January/000013.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> {{efn|1=The symbol {{char|:}} was used to denote division, as in 6:3=2.<ref name=Silli1>{{cite web |title=Too narrowly defined: DIVISION SIGN & COLON |url=http://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2012-m07/0053.html | author = Leif Halvard Silli | website= Unicode.org}}</ref> }} Because the {{code|÷}} symbol had already been encoded as {{unichar2|÷|nlink=}}, the Unicode Consortium allocated another code point (U+2052) to uniquely identify this (negation) usage.<ref name=Silli1 /> The representative glyph used in the Unicode standard resembles an italic form of that division sign;<ref name=Silli2>{{cite web |url=https://www.unicode.org/mail-arch/unicode-ml/y2014-m01/0018.html | title= Commercial minus as italic variant of division sign in German and Scandinavian context | author = Leif Halvard Silli | website= Unicode.org}}</ref> the exact form of the symbol displayed is typeface (computer font) dependent. <ref name=UC>{{Cite book|chapter=General Punctuation |chapter-url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2000.pdf |title=The Unicode Standard, Version 17.0.0| publisher=The Unicode Consortium |date=2025 |location=Mountain View, CA|quote=The shapes of the reference glyphs used in these code charts are not prescriptive. Considerable variation is to be expected in actual fonts. [...]<br/>2052 ⁒ COMMERCIAL MINUS SIGN<br/>= abzüglich (German), med avdrag av (Swedish), piska (Swedish, "whip")<br/>• a common glyph variant and fallback representation looks like ./.<br/>• may also be used as a dingbat to indicate correctness<br/>• used in Finno-Ugric Phonetic Alphabet to indicate a related borrowed form with different sound<br/>→ 0025 % percent sign<br/>→ 066A ٪ arabic percent sign<br/>→ 00F7 ÷ division sign}}</ref>
According to the Unicode Consortium, the symbol "may also be used as a dingbat to indicate correctness" and is "used in the Finno-Ugric Phonetic Alphabet to indicate a related borrowed form with different sound".<ref name=UC /><ref>{{cite book |first=Eliel |last=Lagercrantz |title= Lappischer Wortschatz |lang=de |trans-title=Lappish vocabulary |date=1939 |oclc=7862244 |publisher=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura |location= Helsinki |quote={{lang|de|'''⁒''' bezeichnet eine lautlich verschiedene aber stammverwandte Entlehnungsform, welche aus einer verschiedenen Mundart, Sprache oder Zeit herrühren kann.}} |trans-quote='''⁒''' denotes a phonetically different but etymologically related loan form, which can originate from a different dialect, language, or time.}} reproduced in {{cite web |title=L2/02-141: Uralic Phonetic Alphabet characters for the UCS | page=55 |url=https://www.unicode.org/wg2/docs/n2419.pdf |publisher=Unicode Consortium |last=ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2419}}</ref>
==Typographic variant== In Germany, the form '''{{code|./.}}''' was used an alternative to the formal form of the symbol, since this could be conveniently typed on a typewriter.{{Citation needed|date=April 2026}}<!-- perhaps this info was in a previous version of the Unicode chart, but that precise claim has since been removed? It's not in there now, at any rate. -->
According the Unicode code charts, version 17, regarding this symbol, "a common glyph variant and fallback representation looks like ./."<ref name=UC />
==See also== * {{anl|Obelus}}{{snd}}Predecessor of this variant * {{Annotated link |Division sign}} * {{Annotated link |Plus and minus signs}} * {{Annotated link |Percent sign}} **Arabic percent sign {{char|٪}} (almost identical symbol except that the dots are squares rather than circles) * Flourish of approval{{snd}}Symbol for a correct response in the Netherlands.
==Notes== {{notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Typographical symbols Category:Mathematical symbols de:Minuszeichen