# Bold
To bold text, add two asterisks or underscores before and after a word or phrase. To bold the middle of a word for emphasis, add two asterisks without spaces around the letters.
| Markdown | HTML | Output |
|-----------|------|--------|
|`I just love **bold text**.`|`I just love bold text.`|I just love **bold text**.|
|`I just love __bold text__.`|`I just love bold text.`|I just love __bold text__.|
|`Love**is**bold`|`Loveisbold`|Love**is**bold|
## Bold Best Practices
Markdown applications don't agree on how to handle underscores in the middle of a word. For compatibility, use asterisks to bold the middle of a word for emphasis.
| ✅ Do this | ❌ Don't do this |
|------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|`Love**is**bold`|`Love__is__bold`|