Religious and political symbols in Unicode

Short description: Characters representing cultural, political and religious symbols

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Unicode contains a number of characters that represent various cultural, political, and religious symbols. Most, but not all, of these symbols are in the Miscellaneous Symbols block.

The majority of them are treated as graphic symbols that are not characters.[1] Exceptions to this include characters in certain writing systems that are also in use as political or religious symbols, such as 卐 (U+5350), the swastika encoded as a Chinese character (although it is also encoded as a religious symbol at U+0FD5); or ॐ (U+0950), the Om symbol which is, strictly speaking, a Devanagari ligature. A special case is ﷲ (U+FDF2), which is a special ligature of Arabic script used only for writing of the word Allah. This ligature is in the Arabic Presentation Forms-A block, which was only encoded for compatibility and is not recommended for use in regular Arabic text.[2]

Unicode defines the semantics of a character by its character identity and its normative properties, one of these being the character's general category, given as a two-letter code (e.g. Lu for "uppercase letter"). Characters that fall in the "political or religious" category are given the "general category" So, which is the catch-all category for "Symbol, other", i.e. anything considered a "symbol" which does not fall in any of the three other categories of Sm (mathematical symbols), Sc (currency symbols) or Sk (phonetic modifier symbols, i.e. IPA signs not considered letters).[3]

## Contents

* 1 Armenian block
* 2 Dingbats block
* 3 Geometric Shapes Extended
* 4 Enclosed Ideographic Supplement block
* 5 Miscellaneous Symbols block
* 6 Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block
* 7 Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A block
* 8 Tibetan block
* 9 Soyombo block
* 10 See also
* 11 References

## Armenian block

The Unicode chart for the Armenian block notes two religious symbols:[4]

Symbol | Code point | Name

|
|

֍ | U+058D | RIGHT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN
֎ | U+058E | LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN

## Dingbats block

The Dingbats block also contains some symbols with political/religious connotations:[5]

Symbol | Emoji | Code point | Name

|
|
|

✙ |  | U+2719 | OUTLINED GREEK CROSS
✚ |  | U+271A | HEAVY GREEK CROSS
✛ |  | U+271B | OPEN CENTER CROSS
✜ |  | U+271C | HEAVY OPEN CENTER CROSS
✝ | ✝️ | U+271D | LATIN CROSS
✞ |  | U+271E | SHADOWED WHITE LATIN CROSS
✟ |  | U+271F | OUTLINED LATIN CROSS
✠ |  | U+2720 | MALTESE CROSS
✡ | ✡️ | U+2721 | STAR OF DAVID

## Geometric Shapes Extended

Other weights of the Greek cross are in Geometric Shapes Extended.

Symbol | Code point | Name

|
|

🞡 | U+1F7A1 | THIN GREEK CROSS
🞢 | U+1F7A2 | LIGHT GREEK CROSS
🞣 | U+1F7A3 | MEDIUM GREEK CROSS
🞤 | U+1F7A4 | BOLD GREEK CROSS
🞥 | U+1F7A5 | VERY BOLD GREEK CROSS
🞦 | U+1F7A6 | VERY HEAVY GREEK CROSS
🞧 | U+1F7A7 | EXTREMELY HEAVY GREEK CROSS
🟙 | U+1F7D9 | NINE POINTED WHITE STAR (Baháʼí symbol)

## Enclosed Ideographic Supplement block

The Unicode chart for the Enclosed Ideographic Supplement block notes several symbols used for Chinese folk religion:[6]

Symbol | Code point | Name and notes

|
|

🉠 | U+1F260 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR FU (luck)
🉡 | U+1F261 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR LU (prosperity)
🉢 | U+1F262 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR SHOU (longevity)
🉣 | U+1F263 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR XI (happiness)
🉤 | U+1F264 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR SHUANGXI (double happiness, love and marriage)
🉥 | U+1F265 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR CAI (wealth)

## Miscellaneous Symbols block

The Unicode chart for the Miscellaneous Symbols block has a section explicitly labelled "Religious and political symbols":[7]

Text | Emoji | Code point | Name and notes

|
|
|

☦︎ | ☦️ | U+2626 | ORTHODOX CROSS
☧ |  | U+2627 | CHI RHO → 2CE9 ⳩ coptic symbol khi ro
☨ |  | U+2628 | CROSS OF LORRAINE
☩ |  | U+2629 | CROSS OF JERUSALEM → 1F70A 🜊 alchemical symbol for vinegar
☪︎ | ☪️ | U+262A | STAR AND CRESCENT
☫ |  | U+262B | FARSI SYMBOL
☬ | 🪯 | U+262C | ADI SHAKTI = Gurmukhi khanda - ਖੰਡਾ
☭ |  | U+262D | HAMMER AND SICKLE
☮︎ | ☮️ | U+262E | PEACE SYMBOL
☯︎ | ☯️ | U+262F | YIN YANG → 0FCA ࿊ Tibetan symbol nor bu nyis -khyil

Elsewhere in the block is:

Text | Emoji | Code point | Name and notes

|
|
|

☸ | ☸️ | U+2638 | WHEEL OF DHARMA
♰ |  | U+2670 | WEST SYRIAC CROSS
♱ |  | U+2671 | EAST SYRIAC CROSS
⛤ |  | U+26E4 | PENTAGRAM
⛥ |  | U+26E5 | RIGHT-HANDED INTERLACED PENTAGRAM
⛦ |  | U+26E6 | LEFT-HANDED INTERLACED PENTAGRAM
⛧ |  | U+26E7 | INVERTED PENTAGRAM
⛩ | ⛩️ | U+26E9 | SHINTO SHRINE
⛪︎ | ⛪ | U+26EA | CHURCH

The emoji variants have U+FE0F after the symbol.

## Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block

The Unicode chart for the Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs block notes many religious symbols:[8]

Text | Emoji | Code point | Name and notes

|
|
|

📿︎ | 📿️ | U+1F4FF | PRAYER BEADS
🕀 |  | U+1F540 | CIRCLED CROSS POMMEE (Orthodox typicon symbol for great feast service)
🕁 |  | U+1F541 | CROSS POMMEE WITH HALF-CIRCLE BELOW (Orthodox typicon symbol for vigil service)
🕂 |  | U+1F542 | CROSS POMMEE (Orthodox typicon symbol for Polyeleos)
🕃 |  | U+1F543 | NOTCHED LEFT SEMICIRCLE WITH THREE DOTS (Orthodox typicon symbol for lower rank feast)
🕄 |  | U+1F544 | NOTCHED RIGHT SEMICIRCLE WITH THREE DOTS (Orthodox typicon symbol for lower rank feast)
🕅 |  | U+1F545 | SYMBOL FOR MARKS CHAPTER (Orthodox typicon symbol for difficult sections)
🕆 |  | U+1F546 | WHITE LATIN CROSS
🕇 |  | U+1F547 | HEAVY LATIN CROSS
🕈 |  | U+1F548 | CELTIC CROSS
🕉︎ | 🕉️ | U+1F549 | OM SYMBOL (generic symbol independent of Devanagari letter U+0950 ॐ DEVANAGARI OM)
🕊︎ | 🕊️ | U+1F54A | DOVE OF PEACE = peace
🕋︎ | 🕋️ | U+1F54B | KAABA
🕌︎ | 🕌️ | U+1F54C | MOSQUE
🕍︎ | 🕍️ | U+1F54D | SYNAGOGUE
🕎︎ | 🕎️ | U+1F54E | MENORAH WITH NINE BRANCHES

Ostensibly religious symbols are, however, not limited to this section, as the same chart has another short section of two characters labelled "Syriac cross symbols", with the explanatory gloss "These symbols are used in liturgical texts of Syriac-speaking churches". Another short section of two symbols is headed "Medical and healing symbols", including U+2624 ☤ Caduceus (cf. U+1F750 🝐 "alchemical symbol for caduceus"), U+2695 ⚕ Staff of Aesculapius, and U+2625 ☥ Ankh, all of which originate in polytheistic religious traditions.[8]

## Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A block

The Unicode chart for the Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A block notes one religious symbol":[9]

Text | Emoji | Code point | Name and notes

|
|
|

🪯︎ | 🪯️ | U+1FAAF | KHANDA

## Tibetan block

The Unicode chart for the Tibetan block notes several religious symbols and a political symbol:[10]

Symbol | Code point | Name and notes

|
|

࿕ | U+0FD5 | RIGHT-FACING SVASTI SIGN
࿖ | U+0FD6 | LEFT-FACING SVASTI SIGN
࿗ | U+0FD7 | RIGHT-FACING SVASTI SIGN WITH DOTS
࿘ | U+0FD8 | LEFT-FACING SVASTI SIGN WITH DOTS

## Soyombo block

The Soyombo symbol is a special character in the Soyombo alphabet devised for the Mongolian language. It appears in several flags of Mongolia. Three forms appear in the Soyombo block.

Symbol | Image | Code point | Name and notes

|
|
|

𑪞 | 199x95px | U+11A9E | SOYOMBO HEAD MARK WITH MOON AND SUN AND TRIPLE FLAME

• national symbol of Mongolia

𑪟 |  | U+11A9F | SOYOMBO HEAD MARK WITH MOON AND SUN AND FLAME
𑪠 | 199x95px | U+11AA0 | SOYOMBO HEAD MARK WITH MOON AND SUN

## See also

National flags are implemented by Regional indicator symbols in the Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block.

## References

1. ↑ Jukka Korpela, Unicode Explained, O'Reilly, 2006, p. 13.
2. ↑ "FAQ: Middle Eastern Scripts and Languages". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/faq/middleeast.html.
3. ↑ "In a set containing ☯, ☮ and ☭, there is something for every taste -- within the limits of political correctness, of course, and a certain technocratic ethical standard. Unicode has not yet created a category for ostentatious religious symbols, but one should not be long in coming..." Yannis Haralambous, P. Scott Horne (trans.), Fonts & Encodings, O'Reilly, 2007, p. 102
4. ↑ "Character Code Chart for Armenian". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0530.pdf.
5. ↑ "Character Code Chart for Dingbats". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2700.pdf.
6. ↑ "Character Code Chart for Enclosed Ideographic Supplement". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F200.pdf.
7. ↑ "Character Code Chart for Miscellaneous Symbols". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2600.pdf.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Character Code Chart for Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1F300.pdf.
9. ↑ "Character Code Chart for Symbols and Pictographs Extended-A". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1FA70.pdf.
10. ↑ "Character Code Chart for Tibetan". Unicode Consortium. https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0F00.pdf.

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