---
title: '<em>: The Emphasis element'
slug: Web/HTML/Element/em
translation_of: Web/HTML/Element/em
---
<div>{{HTMLRef}}</div>

<p>The <strong>HTML <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> element</strong> marks text that has stress emphasis. The <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> element can be nested, with each level of nesting indicating a greater degree of emphasis.</p>

<div>{{EmbedInteractiveExample("pages/tabbed/em.html", "tabbed-shorter")}}</div>



<table class="properties">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row"><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories">Content categories</a></th>
   <td><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Flow_content">Flow content</a>, <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content">phrasing content</a>, palpable content.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Permitted content</th>
   <td><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content">Phrasing content</a>.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Tag omission</th>
   <td>{{no_tag_omission}}</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Permitted parents</th>
   <td>Any element that accepts <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Content_categories#Phrasing_content">phrasing content</a>.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Implicit ARIA role</th>
   <td><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/html-aria/#dfn-no-corresponding-role">No corresponding role</a></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">Permitted ARIA roles</th>
   <td>Any</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <th scope="row">DOM interface</th>
   <td>{{domxref("HTMLElement")}} Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the {{domxref("HTMLSpanElement")}} interface for this element.</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Attributes">Attributes</h2>

<p>This element only includes the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Global_attributes">global attributes</a>.</p>

<h2 id="Usage_notes">Usage notes</h2>

<p>The <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> element is for words that have a stressed emphasis compared to surrounding text, which is often limited to a word or words of a sentence and affects the meaning of the sentence itself.</p>

<p>Typically this element is displayed in italic type. However, it should not be used simply to apply italic styling; use the CSS {{cssxref("font-style")}} property for that purpose. Use the {{HTMLElement("cite")}} element to mark the title of a work (book, play, song, etc.). Use the {{HTMLElement("i")}} element to mark text that is in an alternate tone or mood, which covers many common situations for italics such as scientific names or words in other languages. Use the {{HTMLElement("strong")}} element to mark text that has greater importance than surrounding text.</p>

<h3 id="&lt;i>_vs._&lt;em>">&lt;i&gt; vs. &lt;em&gt;</h3>

<p>New developers are often confused at seeing multiple elements that produce similar results. <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> and <code>&lt;i&gt;</code> are a common example, since they both italicize text. What's the difference? Which should you use?</p>

<p>By default, the visual result is the same. However, the semantic meaning is different. The <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> element represents stress emphasis of its contents, while the <code>&lt;i&gt;</code> element represents text that is set off from the normal prose, such a foreign word, fictional character thoughts, or when the text refers to the definition of a word instead of representing its semantic meaning. (The title of a work, such as the name of a book or movie, should use <code>&lt;cite&gt;</code>.)</p>

<p>This means the right one to use depends on the situation. Neither is for purely decorational purposes, that's what CSS styling is for.</p>

<p>An example for <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> could be: "Just <em>do</em> it already!", or: "We <em>had</em> to do something about it". A person or software reading the text would pronounce the words in italics with an emphasis, using verbal stress.</p>

<p>An example for <code>&lt;i&gt;</code> could be: "The <em>Queen Mary</em> sailed last night". Here, there is no added emphasis or importance on the word "Queen Mary". It is merely indicated that the object in question is not a queen named Mary, but a ship named<em> Queen Mary</em>. Another example for <code>&lt;i&gt;</code> could be: "The word <em>the</em> is an article".</p>

<h2 id="Example">Example</h2>

<p>The <code>&lt;em&gt;</code> element is often used to indicate an implicit or explicit contrast.</p>

<pre class="brush: html notranslate">&lt;p&gt;
  In HTML 5, what was previously called
  &lt;em&gt;block-level&lt;/em&gt; content is now called
  &lt;em&gt;flow&lt;/em&gt; content.
&lt;/p&gt;</pre>

<h3 id="Result">Result</h3>

<p>{{EmbedLiveSample("Example")}}</p>

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <thead>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
 </thead>
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML WHATWG', 'text-level-semantics.html#the-em-element', '&lt;em&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML5 W3C', 'textlevel-semantics.html#the-em-element', '&lt;em&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML5 W3C')}}</td>
   <td></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('HTML4.01', 'struct/text.html#h-9.2.1', '&lt;em&gt;')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('HTML4.01')}}</td>
   <td></td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Trình_duyệt_tương_thích">Trình duyệt tương thích</h2>



<p>{{Compat("html.elements.em")}}</p>

<h2 id="Xem_thêm">Xem thêm</h2>

<ul>
 <li>{{HTMLElement("i")}}</li>
</ul>