Ideographic Description Characters (Unicode block)

Short description: Unicode character block

Ideographic Description Characters

Range| U+2FF0..U+2FFF
(16 code points)
Plane| BMP
Scripts| Common
Assigned| 12 code points
Unused| 4 reserved code points
Source standards| GBK (U+2FF0–U+2FFB only)
Unicode version history
3.0| 12 (+12)
Note: [1][2]

Ideographic Description Characters is a Unicode block containing graphic characters used for describing CJK ideographs. They are used in Ideographic Description Sequences (IDS) to provide a description of an ideograph, in terms of what other ideographs make it up and how they are laid out relative to one another.[3] An IDS provides the reader with a description of an ideograph that cannot be represented properly, usually because it is not encoded in Unicode; rendering systems are not intended to automatically compose the pieces into a complete ideograph, and the descriptions are not standardized.

U+2FF0 to U+2FFB were introduced from GBK; U+2FFC to U+2FFF were devised later and introduced in Unicode 15.1 (2023).

## Contents

* 1 Block
* 2 Ideographic Description Sequences
* 3 History
* 4 See also
* 5 References

## Block

## Ideographic Description Sequences

Ideographic Description Sequences are sequences of characters that represent a Chinese character structure as defined by the Unicode standard.

Below are the 16 characters as defined by Unicode in this block:

Unicode | Char | Meaning | Example 1 | IDS | Example 2 | IDS

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U+2FF0 | ⿰ | Two components combined left to right | 相 | ⿰木目 | 𠁢 | ⿰丨㇍
U+2FF1 | ⿱ | Two components combined above to below | 杏 | ⿱木口 | 𠚤 | ⿱𠂊丶
U+2FF2 | ⿲ | Three components combined left to middle and right | 衍 | ⿲彳氵亍 | 𠂗 | ⿲丿夕乚
U+2FF3 | ⿳ | Three components combined above to middle and below | 京 | ⿳亠口小 | 𠋑 | ⿳亼目口
U+2FF4 | ⿴ | One component fully wrapping another component | 回 | ⿴囗口 | 𠀬 | ⿴㐁人
U+2FF5 | ⿵ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at bottom) | 凰 | ⿵几皇 | 𧓉 | ⿵齊虫
U+2FF6 | ⿶ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at top) | 凶 | ⿶凵㐅 | 义 | ⿶乂丶
U+2FF7 | ⿷ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at right) | 匠 | ⿷匚斤 | 𧆬 | ⿷虎九
U+2FF8 | ⿸ | One component surround top and left side of another component | 病 | ⿸疒丙 | 𤆯 | ⿸耂火
U+2FF9 | ⿹ | One component surround top and right side of another component | 戒 | ⿹戈廾 | 𢧌 | ⿹或壬
U+2FFA | ⿺ | One component surround bottom and left side of another component | 超 | ⿺走召 | 𥘶 | ⿺礼分
U+2FFB | ⿻ | Two components overlapped | 巫 | ⿻工从 | 𣏃 | ⿻木⿻コ一
U+2FFC | ⿼ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at left) | 㕚 | ⿼叉丶 | 𬺹 | ⿼コ二
U+2FFD | ⿽ | One component surround bottom and right side of another component | 氷 | ⿽水丶 | 斗 | ⿽⺀十
U+2FFE | ⿾ | Horizontal reflection | 卐 | ⿾卍 | 𣥄 | ⿾正
U+2FFF | ⿿ | Rotation | 𠕄 | ⿿凹 | 𠄔 | ⿿予

Two other related ideographic description characters are not encoded in this Unicode block, but of which may be used in ideogprahic description sequences:

Unicode | Char | Block | Meaning | Example 1 | IDS | Example 2 | IDS

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U+303E | 〾 | CJK Symbols and Punctuation | Variant but not equivalent | 㬵 (U+3B35) | 〾胶 (U+80F6)[4] | 𫜵 | 〾爫[5]
U+31EF | ㇯ | CJK Strokes | Subtraction | 乒 | ㇯兵丶 | 𧰨 | ㇯豕一

This is the syntax of IDS in EBNF:

IDS := Ideographic | Radical | CJK_Stroke | Private Use | U+FF1F | IDS_BinaryOperator IDS IDS | IDS_TrinaryOperator IDS IDS IDS
CJK_Stroke := U+31C0 | U+31C1 | ... | U+31E3
IDS_BinaryOperator := U+2FF0 | U+2FF1 | U+2FF4 | U+2FF5 | U+2FF6 | U+2FF7 | U+2FF8 | U+2FF9 | U+2FFA | U+2FFB
IDS_TrinaryOperator:= U+2FF2 | U+2FF3

## History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Ideographic Description Characters block:

Version | Final code points[lower-alpha 1] | Count | UTC ID | L2 ID | WG2 ID | IRG ID | Document

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3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 |  | X3L2/95-111 | N1284 |  |  Ideographic Structure Symbol (additional request), 1995-11-07
|  | N1303 (html, doc) |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-01-26), Minutes of Meeting 29, Tokyo
|  | N1348 |  |  Ideographic Components and Composition Scheme, 1996-02-05
|  | N1357 |  |  Revised Ideographic Structure Symbols, 1996-04-12
|  | N1353 |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-06-25), Draft minutes of WG2 Copenhagen Meeting # 30
| L2/97-026 | N1494 |  |  IRG proposal: Ideographic structure character, 1996-06-27
|  | N1430 | N365 |  Proposal Summary Form: Ideographic Structure Character, 1996-08-01
|  | N1453 |  | Ksar, Mike; Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1996-12-06), WG 2 Minutes - Quebec Meeting 31
| L2/97-023 | N1486 | N437 |  IRG #8 Resolutions, 1997-01-16
|  | N1489 |  |  Supplement to Ideographic Components and Composition Schemes, 1997-01-16
|  | N1490 | N436 |  Response to WG2 question on Ideographic Structure Characters, 1997-01-16
| L2/97-030 | N1503 (pdf, doc) |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1997-04-01), Unconfirmed Minutes of WG 2 Meeting #32, Singapore; 1997-01-20--24
| L2/97-114 | N1544 (html, doc) | N453 | Sato, T. K. (1997-04-08), Questions on the "Han structure method" described in WG2 N1490 (IRG N436)
| L2/97-255R |  |  | Aliprand, Joan (1997-12-03), Approved Minutes – UTC #73 & L2 #170 joint meeting, Palo Alto, CA – August 4-5, 1997
|  | N1680 |  |  Project Sub-Division Proposal on Scheme of Ideograph Description Sequence, 1997-12-18
|  | N1782 |  |  Clause X Ideographic Description Sequence (IDS) – IRG N575, 1998-05-06
| L2/98-158 |  |  | Aliprand, Joan; Winkler, Arnold (1998-05-26), Draft Minutes – UTC #76 & NCITS Subgroup L2 #173 joint meeting, Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, April 20-22, 1998
|  | N1842 |  |  Proposed text for a Draft for amendment 28 - Ideographic Description Sequences, 1998-06-03
| L2/98-286 | N1703 |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1998-07-02), Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes, WG 2 Meeting #34, Redmond, WA, USA; 1998-03-16--20, "The original proposal was to use character composition. It has changed from being composition to description over its three year development."
| L2/98-317 | N1892 (pdf, doc) |  |  Combined CD registration and consideration ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters, 1998-10-22
| L2/99-010 | N1903 (pdf, html, doc) |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1998-12-30), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 35, London, U.K.; 1998-09-21--25
| L2/99-072.1 | N1971 |  |  Irish Comments on SC 2 N 3186, 1999-01-19
| L2/99-072 | N1970 (html, doc) |  |  Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3186, PDAM ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 28: Ideographic description characters, 1999-02-05
|  | N2023 |  | Paterson, Bruce (1999-04-06), FPDAM 28 Text - Ideographic Description Characters
| L2/99-120 |  |  |  Text for FPDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646, Amd. 28 - Ideographic description characters, 1999-04-07
UTC/1999-014 |  |  |  | Jenkins, John (1999-06-01), Recursion depth limit for IDC's
UTC/1999-015 |  |  |  | Whistler, Ken (1999-06-01), Re: Brief note on length of ideograph descriptions
UTC/1999-020 |  |  |  | Jenkins, John (1999-06-04), Diagram and language [for Ideograph Description Sequences]
| L2/99-176R |  |  | Moore, Lisa (1999-11-04), Minutes from the joint UTC/L2 meeting in Seattle, June 8-10, 1999
| L2/99-232 | N2003 |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1999-08-03), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 36, Fukuoka, Japan, 1999-03-09--15
| L2/99-253 | N2067 |  |  Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3312, ISO 10646-1/FPDAM 28 - Ideographic description characters, 1999-08-19
| L2/99-301 | N2123 |  |  Disposition of Comments Report on SC 2 N 3312, ISO/IEC 10646-1/FPDAM 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters, 1999-09-20
| L2/99-302 | N2124 |  | Paterson, Bruce (1999-09-24), Revised Text for FDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646-1/FDAM 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters
| L2/00-010 | N2103 |  | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2000-01-05), Minutes of WG 2 meeting 37, Copenhagen, Denmark: 1999-09-13—16
| L2/00-045 |  |  |  Summary of FDAM voting: ISO 10646 Amd. 28: Ideographic description characters, 2000-01-31
| L2/02-221 | N2480 |  | Cook, Richard (2002-05-18), Proposal to add Ideographic Description Characters (IDC) to the UCS
| L2/02-436 | N2534 | N955 |  IRG Radical Classification, 2002-11-21
| L2/12-087 |  |  |  Proposed Changes to ISO/IEC 10646 Annex I, Ideographic Description Characters, 2012-02-09
| L2/12-007 |  |  | Moore, Lisa (2012-02-14), UTC #130 / L2 #227 Minutes, "Submit L2/12-087 on extensions to ideographic description sequences to WG2."
| L2/15-065 |  |  | Jenkins, John (2015-02-02), Proposal to Add IDS Links to Online Unihan Database
| L2/17-379 |  |  | Lunde, Ken (2017-10-20), IRG #49 Liaison Report
| L2/18-012 |  |  | Yang, Tao; Chan, Eiso; Wang, Yifan (2018-01-05), Proposal of Four IDCs
| L2/18-168 |  |  | Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Liang, Hai; Chapman, Chris; Cook, Richard (2018-04-28), Recommendations to UTC #155 April-May 2018 on Script Proposals
| L2/21-118R |  | N2492 | Lunde, Ken; Jenkins, John H. (2021-08-11), Preliminary proposal to add a new provisional kIDS property (Unihan)
| L2/22-191 |  | N2572 | Lunde, Ken; Jenkins, John; West, Andrew (2022-08-24), Proposal to encode five new Ideographic Description Characters
| L2/22-227 |  |  |  SAT Feedback to "Preliminary proposal to add a new provisional kIDS property (Unihan)" (IRGN2492) and "Proposal to encode five new Ideographic Description Characters" (IRGN2572), 2022-08-29
| L2/22-228 |  |  | Fan, Ming (2022-09-02), Feedback on IRGN2572 "Proposal to encode 5 new ideograph description characters"
| L2/22-247 |  |  | Lunde, Ken (2022-11-01), CJK & Unihan Group Recommendations for UTC #173 Meeting
| L2/22-241 |  |  | Constable, Peter (2022-11-09), Approved Minutes of UTC Meeting 173

1. ↑ Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

## See also

* Chinese character description languages
* Specials (Unicode block)

## References

1. ↑ "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. https://www.unicode.org/ucd/.
2. ↑ "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. https://www.unicode.org/versions/enumeratedversions.html.
3. ↑ IDS are described in chapter 18.2 of the Unicode Standard 9.0 on pages 689 through 692.
4. ↑ "「㬵（U+3B35）」和「胶（U+80F6）」为什么在《康熙字典》收录了两次？ - 知乎". https://www.zhihu.com/question/24871882. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
5. ↑ "基本集扩充字考（五・完结）附扩充块新增字考" (in zh). https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/349694706. Retrieved 2023-09-21.

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