html element

`<cite>` HTML citation element

The <cite> HTML element is used to mark up the title of a creative work. The reference may be in an abbreviated form according to context-appropriate conventions related to citation metadata.

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

<figure>
  <blockquote>
    <p>
      It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
    </p>
  </blockquote>
  <figcaption>
    First sentence in
    <cite
      ><a href="http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/0.html"
        >Nineteen Eighty-Four</a
      ></cite
    >
    by George Orwell (Part 1, Chapter 1).
  </figcaption>
</figure>

cite {
  /* Add your styles here */
}

Attributes

This element only includes the global attributes.

Usage notes

In the context of the <cite> element, a creative work could be, for example, one of the following:

A book
A research paper
An essay
A poem
A musical score
A song
A play or film script
A film
A television show
A game
A sculpture
A painting
A theatrical production
A play
An opera
A musical
An exhibition
A legal case report
A computer program
A website
A web page
A blog post or comment
A forum post or comment
A tweet
A Facebook post
A written or oral statement
And so forth.

To include a reference to the source of quoted material which is contained within a <blockquote> or <q> element, use the cite attribute on the element.

Typically, browsers style the contents of a <cite> element in italics by default. To avoid this, apply the CSS font-style property to the <cite> element.

Examples

<p>More information can be found in <cite>[ISO-0000]</cite>.</p>

Result

Interactive exampleOpen the canonical MDN source to run this embedded demo.

Technical summary

Content categories	Flow content, phrasing content, palpable content.
Permitted content	Phrasing content.
Tag omission	None, both the starting and ending tag are mandatory.
Permitted parents	Any element that accepts phrasing content.
Implicit ARIA role	No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles	Any
DOM interface	[`HTMLElement`](/firefox/mdn/api/htmlelement/) Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the [`HTMLSpanElement`](/firefox/mdn/api/htmlspanelement/) interface for this element.

Specifications

SpecificationsStandards references are available on the canonical MDN page.

Browser compatibility

Browser compatibilityCompatibility data is available on the canonical MDN page.