Typographic Symbols Symbols & Their Meanings
28 typographic symbols symbols explained — meaning, origin, spiritual significance, and how each one is used today.
Ampersand (&)
The Ampersand (&): a ligature of the Latin "et" (and) — the symbol literally spells e-t fused together.
≈Approximately Equal (≈)
Approximately Equal (≈) — two wavy lines — "almost equal to", for when precision does not matter.
*Asterisk (*)
The Asterisk (*): the "little star" — footnotes, corrections, censored letters, and multiplication.
@At Sign (@)
At Sign (@) — commercial shorthand for "at the rate of" (10 apples @ $1) before email made it the separator betw…
\Backslash (\)
The Backslash (\): the escape character of programming — it tells computers "treat the next character specially".
✗Ballot X (✗)
Ballot X (✗) — marks a choice, a wrong answer, or a rejection — the hardworking negative twin of the check.
•Bullet Point (•)
Bullet Point (•) — the typographic dot that turns paragraphs into scannable lists.
^Caret (^)
Caret (^) — the proofreader’s insertion mark, exponentiation in plain-text math (2^3), and "this" in chat (^^ po…
✓Check Mark (✓)
The Check Mark (✓): confirms, approves, or completes — from the Latin veritas (truth) V.
©Copyright Symbol (©)
Copyright Symbol (©) — claims copyright ownership — a C in a circle, from the 1909 US Copyright Act.
†Dagger Symbol (†)
Dagger Symbol (†) — the obelisk — used for footnotes after the asterisk, and next to names to mark death or a da…
°Degree Symbol (°)
The Degree Symbol (°): the small circle for degrees of angle (90°) or temperature (30°C).
…Ellipsis (…)
Ellipsis (…) — three dots marking omission, trailing thought, or suspense.
/Forward Slash (/)
Forward Slash (/) — separates alternatives (and/or), fractions (1/2), dates, and now file paths and URLs.
« »Guillemets (« »)
The Guillemets (« »): the quotation marks of French, Russian, and many other languages — angled arrows hugging t…
‽Interrobang (‽)
The Interrobang (‽): a question mark fused with an exclamation point — for questions asked in disbelief: "You di…
¿Inverted Question Mark (¿)
The Inverted Question Mark (¿): opens a question in Spanish so the reader hears the questioning tone from the ve…
№Numero Sign (№)
Numero Sign (№) — means "number" — № 5 reads as "number five", from the Latin numero.
#Octothorpe / Hash (#)
The Octothorpe / Hash (#): the pound/number sign, born from lazy handwriting of "lb" (libra) — now the hashtag t…
‰Per Mille Symbol (‰)
Per Mille Symbol (‰) — parts per thousand — one-tenth of a percent, used for blood alcohol, gradients, and salinity.
¶Pilcrow / Paragraph Mark (¶)
Pilcrow / Paragraph Mark (¶) — the paragraph mark — medieval scribes used it to show where a new thought begins.
′Prime Symbol (′)
Prime Symbol (′) — marks feet and arcminutes (6′2″), and "the transformed version" in math (x′).
®Registered Trademark Symbol (®)
The Registered Trademark Symbol (®): means the mark is officially registered with a trademark office — using it …
§Section Sign (§)
The Section Sign (§): marks a numbered section of a legal code or document — "see § 8" means read section eight.
∴Therefore Sign (∴)
Therefore Sign (∴) — three dots in a triangle — "therefore", the conclusion of a logical argument.
~Tilde (~)
Tilde (~) — the wavy line — "approximately" in math, "home directory" in computing, and a playful trailing-off i…
™Trademark Symbol (™)
Trademark Symbol (™) — claims a word or logo as a trademark — no registration needed, it simply asserts "this is ours".
|Vertical Bar / Pipe (|)
Vertical Bar / Pipe (|) — in computing, sends one program’s output into another; in typography, a divider.