WhatIsThisSymbol.com is a free reference tool for identifying symbols, characters, punctuation marks, Unicode code points, and other text-based signs you may encounter online or in documents.
The idea is simple: if you see a character and find yourself asking “What is this symbol?”, you should be able to paste it, search for it, or describe what it looks like and quickly find useful information about it.
What We Help You Identify
Our tools and reference content are designed to help identify characters such as punctuation marks, mathematical signs, currency symbols, arrows, geometric shapes, keyboard characters, technical notation, and other Unicode characters.
Where possible, we provide information such as the character’s name, Unicode code point, common names, typical uses, and similar-looking symbols.
Why Character Identity Matters
Two symbols can look almost identical while actually being different characters. A hyphen, an en dash, an em dash, and a mathematical minus sign are separate Unicode characters even though they may appear similar in some fonts.
Knowing the exact character can be important when working with programming code, documents, search queries, mathematics, data, typography, or text copied between different applications.
How We Approach Symbol Information
We aim to distinguish between a character’s technical identity and the meaning it may have in a particular context. A symbol can have one Unicode identity but several common names or uses depending on whether it appears in writing, mathematics, computing, finance, or another field.
We also try to avoid presenting visually similar characters as though they are interchangeable when they are not.
Independent Reference Website
WhatIsThisSymbol.com is an independent website. References to Unicode names, standards, software, products, companies, or other third-party terminology are provided for identification and educational purposes.
Contact
If you find an incorrect character name, a broken page, or information that could be improved, please contact us at contact@whatisthissymbol.com.