Is there a way in HTML and/or CSS to do the following, but then correctly: √¯¯¯¯¯¯φ·(2π−γ) Such that there is an overbar above the expression, which neatly aligns with the &radic;? I know there is the Unicode &macr;, that looks like the overbar I need (as used in the above example, though as you can see – it doesn't align well with the root symbol). The solution I'm looking for works at least for one standard font, on most sizes, and all modern browsers. I can't use images; I'd like to have a pure HTML4/CSS way, without client scripting. Here is my current code, thank you Matthew Jones (+1) for the text-decoration: overline! Still some problems <div style="font-family: Georgia; font-size: 200%"> <span style="vertical-align: -15%;">&radic;</span><span style="text-decoration: overline;">&nbsp;x&nbsp;+&nbsp;1&nbsp;</span> </div> The line doesn't match the &radic; because I lowered it with 15% baseline height. (Because the default placement is not nice) The line thickness doesn't match the thickness of the &radic;. Thanks!