What is this symbol?
Paste a symbol, an emoji or a whole line of text. You get the name of every character, its code point, Unicode block and version.
How to identify a symbol
- Copy the symbol you saw: in a message, a bio, a document or on a web page. Long-press it on a phone and choose Copy.
- Paste it into the box above. You can paste one character or a whole sentence; every different character gets its own row.
- Read the name and the code point. If we have a page for the symbol, the last column links to it, with the ways to type it on Windows, Mac and phones.
Nothing you paste leaves your device. The page downloads the public list of names for the Unicode blocks it needs and does the lookup in your browser.
What the columns mean
Name. The first line is the common name in your language from the Unicode CLDR project, when one exists. The line in capitals is the official Unicode name, which never changes once a character is published: ♥ is officially BLACK HEART SUIT even though everyone calls it a heart.
Code point. The number Unicode gives the character, written as U+ and a hexadecimal number. U+00B0 is the degree sign everywhere in the world, on every system. Search engines, programmers and fonts all use it.
Block. Unicode stores characters in named ranges such as Arrows, Box Drawing or Emoticons. The block often tells you where a symbol came from: Mathematical Operators, a script such as Hangul, or an old computer character set.
Unicode version. The version that added the character. Older characters display almost everywhere. A character from the last two versions may show as an empty box on a phone that has not been updated.
Emoji sequences, empty boxes and odd characters
Many emoji are built from several code points glued together with an invisible ZERO WIDTH JOINER. A family, a skin-tone thumbs-up or a rainbow flag is one picture on screen but up to seven code points underneath. The identifier keeps such a sequence in one row; open it to see the parts.
If a symbol shows as a box, a question mark or nothing, your device has no font for it. The row still tells you exactly what it is. A newer system update or another app often shows it correctly.
Characters from the Private Use Area have no official meaning. Icon fonts, games and company logos use them, so the same code point is a logo in one app and a box everywhere else. Unassigned code points are empty slots that Unicode has not filled yet.
Spaces, zero-width characters and fillers are invisible on purpose. The identifier shows them as small labelled boxes. See our invisible character page to copy them or find them in your own text.
Questions people ask
What does this symbol mean?
Paste it in the box at the top: you get its official Unicode name and the common name in your language. The name usually tells you the meaning (DEGREE SIGN, CHECK MARK, SECTION SIGN). For symbols with our own page, follow the link in the last column for how people use it and how to type it.
What is this symbol called?
Each character has one official English name in the Unicode standard, shown in capitals, and often a friendlier everyday name from CLDR. For example $ is DOLLAR SIGN, & is AMPERSAND and @ is COMMERCIAL AT, which most people call the at sign.
Why does one emoji show several code points?
Some emoji are sequences: a base emoji plus a skin tone, or several emoji joined by an invisible ZERO WIDTH JOINER. Your phone draws them as one picture. That is also why a single emoji can count as 2, 7 or even 11 characters in an app’s length limit.
Why does my symbol show as a box or a question mark?
Your device has no font that contains the character, or the character is newer than your system. The text itself is fine: on another device it may look right. A question mark in a diamond (U+FFFD) means the text was damaged before it reached you.
What is a private use character?
Unicode reserves about 137,000 code points that it will never define, so companies and apps can put their own icons there. The meaning depends on the font: the same code point can be a game icon in one font and an empty box everywhere else.
Is the text I paste sent anywhere?
No. The lookup runs in your browser. The page only downloads public name lists from this site, and it does not save what you paste.