4.6.21 The ruby element

Categories:
Flow content.
Phrasing content.
Palpable content.
Contexts in which this element can be used:
Where phrasing content is expected.
Content model:
One or more groups of: phrasing content followed either by a single rt element, or an rp element, an rt element, and another rp element.
Content attributes:
Global attributes
DOM interface:
Uses HTMLElement.

The ruby element allows one or more spans of phrasing content to be marked with ruby annotations. Ruby annotations are short runs of text presented alongside base text, primarily used in East Asian typography as a guide for pronunciation or to include other annotations. In Japanese, this form of typography is also known as furigana.

A ruby element represents the spans of phrasing content it contains, ignoring all the child rt and rp elements and their descendants. Those spans of phrasing content have associated annotations created using the rt element.

In this example, each ideograph in the Japanese text 漢字 is annotated with its reading in hiragana.

...
<ruby>漢<rt>かん</rt>字<rt>じ</rt></ruby>
...

This might be rendered as:

The two main ideographs, each with its annotation in hiragana rendered in a smaller font above it.

In this example, each ideograph in the traditional Chinese text 漢字 is annotated with its bopomofo reading.

<ruby>漢<rt>ㄏㄢˋ</rt>字<rt>ㄗˋ</rt></ruby>

This might be rendered as:

The two main ideographs, each with its bopomofo annotation rendered in a smaller font next to it.

In this example, each ideograph in the simplified Chinese text 汉字 is annotated with its pinyin reading.

...<ruby>汉<rt>hàn</rt>字<rt>zì</rt></ruby>...

This might be rendered as:

The two main ideographs, each with its pinyin annotation rendered in a smaller font above it.