U+226A "≪" Much Less-Than Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
≪
U+226A "≪" Much Less-Than is a mathematical symbol primarily used to denote that one quantity is significantly or overwhelmingly smaller than another, often in fields like algebra, number theory, and analysis. It appears in inequalities and asymptotic comparisons, such as in notation like "x ≪ y" meaning x is much less than y, sometimes with the implicit understanding that the ratio approaches zero or remains negligible. The glyph resembles a double less-than sign, designed to distinguish it from the single less-than operator, and it is part of the Mathematical Operators block, codified for consistent use in digital text and typesetting.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+226A |
| Version Added | 1.1 |
| Name | Much Less-Than |
| Unicode 1.0 Name | Much Less Than |
| Block | Mathematical Operators |
| General Category | Math Symbol |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Other Neutral |
| Mirrored | Yes |
| Mirrored Character | "≫" U+226B Much Greater-Than |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ≪ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ≪ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE2 0x89 0xAA |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x226A |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x0000226A |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u226a |