Use ordinary letters such as VIII for most work. Special characters such as Ⅷ are mainly for matching older text.
Technical note: Use ordinary Latin letters such as VIII for most writing and conversion. Unicode numeral characters such as Ⅷ are compatibility forms best reserved for matching legacy text.Reviewed by CoolSymbol.now Editorial · August 2, 2026What you need to know
Roman numerals are normally written with I, V, X, L, C, D and M.
Characters such as Ⅷ and Ⅻ were encoded for compatibility with older standards and layouts.
Use letters in dates, outlines and editable documents unless a specification requires the compatibility character.
See real examples in roman numeral symbols and number symbols. For the full lesson, read How to Copy and Paste Symbols Safely.
01
Ordinary letters are usually safer
Use ordinary letters for almost everything. VIII made from V, I, I and I behaves the way people expect.
The single-character numerals exist mainly for compatibility with older East Asian character sets.
- 8 becomes VIII
- 14 becomes XIV
- 2026 becomes MMXXVI
02
Unicode also has compatibility numerals
Ordinary letters sort, search and spell-check correctly. The single characters often do not.
03
Choose for the workflow
The precomposed forms are reasonable where every character must occupy one cell, such as an East Asian table.
- Prefer letters for conversion
- Preserve compatibility forms in faithful transcription
- Do not use either form as a number in calculations
04
Where the Unicode forms do belong
Outside that case, a numeral written with letters will always behave better. It is also easier for anyone to type.
05
Sources and further reading
This answer was reviewed against current Unicode terminology and the practical guidance below.
06