℮

℮ U+212E, ℮ ESTIMATED SYMBOL ← ℭ [U+212D] Letterlike Symbols ℯ → [U+212F]

See also: Appendix:Variations of "e"

Translingual

Symbol specification in the European Union

British packaging with ℮ (top right of label)

Description

A black, bolded lowercase letter e, stylised: the outer curve is circular, while there are two thick, flat-ended vertical inner black bars to the left and right—creating a horizontally arched rectangle in the top centre.

Etymology 1

From e, used as an abbreviation of estimate or estimation. Formally adopted by the European Union (then known as the European Economic Community) in 1976; its precise shape and dimensions were formally defined by the Union in 2009.

Symbol

℮ (English symbol name ℮-mark or estimated sign or estimated symbol)

1. (European Union, law, of packaged goods) Affixed to a number (quantity, volume or mass) to indicate that the average content of a product is indeed the specified amount, and that the proportion of individual prepackages having a slightly greater amount is higher than those having a slightly smaller (negative) amount, and that no package has a lesser amount greater than twice the tolerable negative error as defined by the standards set by the European Union.

Usage notes

• The ℮-mark is recognised and used also in the packaging of some non-European Union member states, such as the United Kingdom (which left the Union in 2020 but retains some of its laws), South Africa and Australia.
• As defined by the European Union, the tolerable error decreases with higher nominal quantities, alternating between percentage and fixed intervals, and the average batch content must not fall below the stated nominal quantity. For example, errors range from 9 percent at 50 g/ml to less than 1.5 percent at 1 kg/L, etc; see estimated sign § Tolerable negative error on WikipediaWikipedia .

Etymology 2

Symbol

℮

1. (chiefly mathematics) Alternative form of e.