What Is This Symbol?

What Is This Symbol Called?

If you have a character in front of you but do not know its name, the easiest way to identify it is to paste the exact character into the symbol finder above. You can search a symbol itself, enter a Unicode code point, or describe what the mark looks like.

Questions such as “what is this symbol?”, “what symbol is this?”, “what is this symbol called?” and “what is the name of this symbol?” often refer to punctuation marks, keyboard characters, mathematical signs, currency symbols, or other Unicode characters. The visual shape is useful, but the underlying character is even more important because two symbols can look almost identical while having different names and uses.

For example, a short horizontal line could be a hyphen-minus, an en dash, an em dash, or a mathematical minus sign. A vertical line may be called a vertical line in Unicode but a pipe in programming. The character / is formally named SOLIDUS in Unicode and is commonly called a slash or forward slash.

Common Symbols and Their Names

These are some of the characters people most often try to identify. The name in the table describes the actual text character; its meaning can change depending on where it appears.

How to Identify an Unknown Symbol

1. Paste the exact symbol

If the character is selectable in a webpage, document, email, chat, or text-based PDF, copy only the symbol and paste it into the finder. Searching the exact character is usually more reliable than describing its appearance because the character itself preserves its Unicode identity.

This is especially useful for characters that look similar. A font may make two different Unicode characters appear almost identical even though they have different names and functions.

2. Search by its Unicode code point

If you already have a value such as U+00A7, U+00A3, or U+2014, enter it directly. A Unicode code point identifies a character independently of the font used to display it.

For example, U+00A7 identifies § as SECTION SIGN, while U+2014 identifies — as EM DASH.

3. Search by name or appearance

If you cannot copy the character, describe its shape using simple terms. Searches such as “circle with a line,” “double arrow,” “long dash,” “vertical line,” or “star outline” can help narrow the possibilities.

The Find by Appearance section above is useful when you recognize the basic shape but do not know what the symbol is called.

4. Check where the symbol appears

Context often determines what a character means. The same mark can have different functions in normal writing, mathematics, programming, music, finance, or a user interface.

For example, ! is an exclamation mark in ordinary writing but may represent factorial notation in mathematics. The character | can be a vertical line, a mathematical delimiter, or a pipe operator in a command-line environment.

A Symbol’s Name and Meaning Are Not Always the Same Thing

When asking “what symbol is this?”, it helps to separate two questions:

• What is the character called? This asks for its name or Unicode identity.
• What does the character mean here? This depends on how it is being used.

The character #, for example, has the Unicode name NUMBER SIGN. In different contexts you may hear it called a number sign, hash, hashtag, or pound sign. Those names describe how people use the same underlying character; they do not create different Unicode characters.

Similarly, ^ is CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT in Unicode, although programmers often call it a caret. The character / is SOLIDUS in Unicode but is much more commonly called a slash or forward slash.

This is why the finder shows both technical character information and a practical description rather than relying on appearance alone.

Similar-Looking Symbols Can Be Different Characters

A small visual difference can represent a completely different Unicode character. This matters when copying text, writing code, preparing technical documents, or searching for a specific symbol.

Hyphen, en dash, em dash, and minus sign

• - — hyphen-minus, U+002D
• – — en dash, U+2013
• — — em dash, U+2014
• − — minus sign, U+2212

They may all look like horizontal lines, but they are separate characters. Unicode distinguishes them because they serve different typographic or mathematical purposes.

Straight and curly quotation marks

• " — quotation mark, U+0022
• “ — left double quotation mark, U+201C
• ” — right double quotation mark, U+201D
• ' — apostrophe, U+0027
• ’ — right single quotation mark, U+2019

The differences may be subtle in some fonts, but copying the correct character can matter in typography, search, data processing, and source code.

Slash and related diagonal characters

The ordinary keyboard slash is / (U+002F). Unicode also contains separate characters for a fraction slash and a division slash. If a diagonal symbol looks unfamiliar, searching the exact copied character is more reliable than assuming it is the normal slash key.

What Does the � Symbol Mean?

If you see �, the mark itself is called the replacement character, U+FFFD. It normally appears when software cannot correctly interpret part of the original text.

In other words, � often does not tell you what the missing original symbol was. It tells you that a character could not be decoded, converted, or represented correctly during text processing.

If you are trying to identify the original character, return to the original source if possible and copy it again. Checking the file encoding, webpage encoding, or the application that produced the text may also be necessary.

What If the Mark Is Not a Unicode Character?

Not every visual mark is a text character. A logo, road sign, custom icon, handwritten mark, diagram symbol, or graphic inside an image may have no direct Unicode equivalent.

If you can select and copy the mark as text, there is a good chance it can be identified as a character or character sequence. If you can only see it as part of an image, start by describing its shape and the context in which it appears.

Useful details include whether it contains a circle, triangle, arrow, star, line, letter, number, or another recognizable shape, as well as where you found it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Unknown Symbols

What is the easiest way to find the name of a symbol?

Copy the exact character and paste it into the symbol finder above. Exact-character lookup is usually the quickest way to distinguish between symbols that look similar.

What is this symbol called in English?

Enter the character itself to find its common English name and, when available, its formal Unicode name. Some characters also have alternative names used in computing, mathematics, typography, or everyday speech.

Why does one symbol have several names?

A Unicode character has an assigned identity, but people may use different common names depending on context. For example, | is a vertical line but is commonly called a pipe in computing, while # can be called number sign, hash, or hashtag.

How can I identify a symbol if I cannot type it?

Use the Find by Appearance options above or describe the mark with words such as circle, square, triangle, arrow, slash, star, line, or another visible feature.

Are symbols that look the same always the same character?

No. Different Unicode characters can look very similar in a particular font. Dashes, quotation marks, mathematical operators, circles, and letter-like symbols are common examples. Checking the code point is the safest way to confirm the exact character.

What is the name of §?

§ is the section sign, Unicode U+00A7. It is commonly used when referring to numbered sections or paragraphs in structured documents.

What is the name of £?

£ is the pound sign, Unicode U+00A3. It is most commonly associated with pounds sterling.

What is the � symbol?

� is U+FFFD REPLACEMENT CHARACTER. It usually indicates that software encountered text it could not decode or convert correctly.