Leftwards Harpoon With Barb Upwards
Block: Arrows
- Symbol
- ↼
- Unicode
U+21BC- Unicode name
- LEFTWARDS HARPOON WITH BARB UPWARDS
- Block
- Arrows
- Category
- Symbol, Other
- Type
- Unicode symbol
Leftwards Harpoon With Barb Upwards (↼) is encoded as U+21BC and has the formal Unicode name LEFTWARDS HARPOON WITH BARB UPWARDS. Unicode classifies it as Symbol, Other in the Arrows block. Separately encoded named neighbors include ↽ Leftwards Harpoon With Barb Downwards (U+21BD) and ⇀ Rightwards Harpoon With Barb Upwards (U+21C0); those records should be compared by name and code point rather than merged because their shapes or terminology are related.
Reading Leftwards Harpoon With Barb Upwards in Context
↼ is encoded as U+21BC and classified as Symbol, Other.
The Unicode identity and the surrounding document answer different questions: the code point tells you which character is present, while the surrounding formula, interface, document, or notation system determines the local interpretation. Keeping those layers separate prevents a visual guess from being treated as a character definition.
When another character is unclear, try identify the ↼ symbol to identify it from the character itself, its Unicode value, or its shape.
Unicode Distinctions Around ↼
Unicode stores ↼ as U+21BC, while nearby records include ↽ Leftwards Harpoon With Barb Downwards (U+21BD) and ⇀ Rightwards Harpoon With Barb Upwards (U+21C0). These are separate encoded identities, not alternate font drawings of one character.
The comparison is useful because a shared word in the name, a mirrored direction, or a similar outline can make two symbols appear interchangeable. When the distinction matters, compare the complete Unicode name and code point before replacing one record with another.
Digital Representations of U+21BC
U+21BC = decimal 8636 = HTML ↼ / ↼. A Unicode escape-style form is u21BC. Its UTF-8 bytes are E2 86 BC.
Use these identifiers in markup, source code, exports, or character diagnostics when the glyph alone is not enough.