<cite> Title of a work
The title of a creative work: a book, film, song, game or article.
<cite> marks the title of a work: a book, a film, a painting, a song, a game, a web article. Browsers show it in italics.
People often use it for the name of the person being quoted. Current HTML reserves cite for the title of the work. It also has nothing to do with the cite attribute of blockquote and q, which holds a URL.
The cite element definition (opens in a new tab) limits it to titles of works, so names of people are out. Put it beside a blockquote to credit the source.
Syntax
<cite>Title of the work</cite>When to use it
<cite> marks the title of a work you mention or credit: a novel in a book review, a film in a blog post, a song in a playlist page, a research paper in a reference list, or a game in a news article. It also works for credits under a quote, next to blockquote or q.
Other italic elements have different jobs. i covers ship names, foreign phrases and thoughts; em covers stress. A person's name, even when they are being quoted, stays plain text or goes in a link to their profile.
Keep in mind that cite only labels the title; it does not link anywhere or store the source address. If readers should be able to open the source, put a link inside the cite element: <cite><a href="...">Title</a></cite>. In a list of references, mark only the title with cite and leave the author, year and publisher as normal text.
Live example
Edit the code and watch the preview.
<p>My favourite book is <cite>The Hobbit</cite> by J. R. R. Tolkien.</p>More examples
Reading list
A reading list marks each book title with cite and leaves the author names as plain text, because cite is only for titles of works. Each title is set in italics by the default browser style.
<h2>Books for the holidays</h2>
<ul>
<li><cite>The Hobbit</cite> by J. R. R. Tolkien</li>
<li><cite>Matilda</cite> by Roald Dahl</li>
<li><cite>Treasure Island</cite> by Robert Louis Stevenson</li>
</ul>Linked source under a quote
A quote is credited in a figcaption. The article title is a cite element with a link inside, so readers can open the source, while the author name stays outside cite.
<figure>
<blockquote>
<p>Pancakes taste best when the batter rests for half an hour.</p>
</blockquote>
<figcaption>Jamie Lee, in <cite><a href="https://example.com/pancake-tips">Ten Pancake Tips</a></cite></figcaption>
</figure>Tip: cite holds titles of works. People's names stay plain text.
Browser support
HTML 2.0 already had cite, and every browser renders it in italics. HTML5 narrowed it to titles of works, and the Living Standard keeps that definition. It needs no special browser support.
Accessibility
Screen readers read cite as ordinary text, so the sentence itself has to make the title clear. If a citation links to its source, the link text should name it, as the W3C note Understanding Link Purpose (In Context) (opens in a new tab) describes.
Common mistakes
Wrong
<cite>Albert Einstein</cite>Right
<cite>Relativity: The Special and General Theory</cite> by Albert EinsteinThe author is not a title, so cite does not fit.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use the cite tag for a person's name?
No. The HTML Living Standard defines <cite> as the title of a work, such as a book, paper, film, song, painting, website or game. A person's name is not a title. Write it as plain text, or use <b> or <span> if it needs styling. What counts as a cited work is covered in Wikipedia's article on citation (opens in a new tab).
What is the difference between the cite element and the cite attribute?
One is for readers and one is for machines. The <cite> element is visible text naming a work. The cite attribute, used on <blockquote>, <q>, <del> and <ins>, holds a URL to the source document, and browsers do not display it. Nothing stops you from using both together.