Unicode contains a number of characters that represent variouscultural,political, andreligious symbols. Most, but not all, of these symbols are in theMiscellaneous Symbols block.
The majority of them are treated asgraphic symbols that are notcharacters.[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), theswastika encoded as aChinese character (although it is also encoded as a religious symbol at U+0FD5);or ॐ (U+0950), theOm symbol which is, strictly speaking, aDevanagari ligature. A special case isﷲ (U+FDF2), which is a special ligature of Arabic script used only for writing of the wordAllah. This ligature is in theArabic 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 itsnormative properties, one of these being the character'sgeneral 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 ofSm (mathematical symbols),Sc (currency symbols) orSk (phonetic modifier symbols, i.e.IPA signs not considered letters).[3]
The Unicode chart for theArmenian block notes two religious symbols:[4]
| Symbol | Code point | Name |
|---|---|---|
| ֍ | U+058D | RIGHT-FACINGARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN |
| ֎ | U+058E | LEFT-FACING ARMENIAN ETERNITY SIGN |
TheDingbats 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 |
Other weights of the Greek cross are inGeometric 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) |
The Unicode chart for theEnclosed Ideographic Supplement block notes several symbols used for Chinese folk religion:[6]
| Symbol | Code point | Name and notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🉠 | U+1F260 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FORFU (luck) |
| 🉡 | U+1F261 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FOR LU (prosperity) |
| 🉢 | U+1F262 | ROUNDED SYMBOL FORSHOU (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) |
The Unicode chart for theMiscellaneous 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 haveU+FE0F after the symbol.
The Unicode chart for theMiscellaneous 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 (Orthodoxtypicon 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 forPolyeleos) | |
| 🕃 | 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 ofDevanagari letterU+0950 ॐDEVANAGARI 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]
The Unicode chart for theSymbols and Pictographs Extended-A block notes one religious symbol":[9]
| Text | Emoji | Code point | Name and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🪯︎ | 🪯️ | U+1FAAF | KHANDA |
The Unicode chart for theTibetan block notes several religious symbols and a political symbol:[10]
| Symbol | Code point | Name and notes |
|---|---|---|
| ࿕ | U+0FD5 | RIGHT-FACINGSVASTI SIGN |
| ࿖ | U+0FD6 | LEFT-FACING SVASTI SIGN |
| ࿗ | U+0FD7 | RIGHT-FACING SVASTI SIGN WITH DOTS |
| ࿘ | U+0FD8 | LEFT-FACING SVASTI SIGN WITH DOTS |
TheSoyombo symbol is a special character in theSoyombo alphabet devised for theMongolian language.It appears in severalflags of Mongolia.Three forms appear in theSoyombo block.
| Symbol | Image | Code point | Name and notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 𑪞 |  | 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 | |
| 𑪠 |  | U+11AA0 | SOYOMBO HEAD MARK WITH MOON AND SUN |
National flags are implemented byRegional indicator symbols in theEnclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block.
