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  1. References
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  3. Reference
  4. Elements
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In this article

  • Try it
  • Attributes
  • Usage notes
  • Examples
  • Technical summary
  • Specifications
  • Browser compatibility
  • See also
  1. HTML
  2. Guides
  3. Content categories
  4. Comments
  5. Date and time formats
  6. Constraint validation
  7. Viewport meta element
  8. Responsive images
  9. Microdata
  10. Microformats
  11. Quirks and standards modes
  12. HTML cheatsheet
  13. How to
  14. Define terms with HTML
  15. Use data attributes
  16. Use cross-origin images
  17. Add a hitmap on top of an image
  18. Author fast-loading HTML pages
  19. Add JavaScript
  20. Reference
  21. Elements
    1. Deprecated
    2. Deprecated

    3. Deprecated
    4. Deprecated
    5. Experimental
    6. Deprecated
    7. Deprecated
    8. Deprecated

A person or software reading the text would pronounce the words in italics with an emphasis, using verbal stress.

Examples for could be:

html

The word the is an article.

The Queen Mary 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 "Queen Mary".

Examples

In this example, the element is used to highlight an implicit or explicit contrast between two ingredient lists:

html

Ice cream is made with milk, sweetener, and cream. Frozen custard, on the other hand, is made of milk, cream, sweetener, and egg yolks.

Result

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 emphasis
Permitted ARIA roles Any
DOM interface HTMLElement Up to Gecko 1.9.2 (Firefox 4) inclusive, Firefox implements the HTMLSpanElement interface for this element.

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# the-em-element

Browser compatibility

See also

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