<cite>: The CITE Element
Last updated: 2026-10-13
<cite>The CITE Element
Marks the title of a work (book, article, film, song); rendered in italics by default.
| Category | Text Content |
|---|---|
| Content Model | Phrasing content |
| Allowed Parents | Any element that accepts phrasing content |
| Content Tag | Yes — requires closing </cite> tag |
| Status | Standard |
📝 Syntax
<cite>title of work</cite>▶ Example
Edit the code below and see the live result in the playground:
🌐 Browser Support
| Browser |  Chrome |
 Edge |
 Firefox |
 Safari |
 Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <cite> | ✓ v1 | ✓ v12 | ✓ v1 | ✓ v1 | ✓ v1 |
| Supported in all major browsers | |||||
Tip： <cite> is for the title of a work, not for citing a source—use <q> or <blockquote> for that.
❓ FAQ
QWhat does the cite tag do?
A
<cite> marks the title of a creative work — book titles, article names, films, songs — and browsers render it in italics. Note it marks the work's title, not the author's name and not the quoted content.QWhat is the difference between the cite tag and the cite attribute?
ADifferent things: the
<cite> element marks a work's title (user-visible); the cite attribute on <blockquote>, <q>, <del>, and <ins> holds a source URL (invisible). Show source text with the element; annotate the source link with the attribute.QShould cite contain the author's name?
APer the HTML spec, no —
<cite> holds the work's title. For who said it, put the person's name in a <footer> inside the blockquote. The spec conflicts with old habits here, but new projects should follow the spec.🏷️ Related Tags
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