| ✓ | |
|---|---|
Check mark | |
| In Unicode | U+2713 ✓CHECK MARK (✓, ✓) |
| Different from | |
| Different from | U+221A √SQUARE ROOT U+23B7 ⎷RADICAL SYMBOL BOTTOM |
 | This articleis missing information about the history of the check mark. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(November 2024) |
Thecheck orcheck mark (American English),checkmark (Philippine English),tickmark (Indian English) ortick (Australian,New Zealand andBritish English)[1] is a mark (✓, ✔, etc.) used in many countries, including the English-speaking world, to indicate the concept "yes" (e.g. "yes; this has been verified", "yes; that is the correct answer", "yes; this has been completed", or "yes; this [item or option] applies").
Thex mark is also sometimes used for this purpose (most notably on electionballot papers, e.g. in the United Kingdom), but otherwise usually indicates "no", incorrectness, or failure. One of the earliest usages of a check mark as an indication of completion is on ancient Babylonian tablets "where small indentations were sometimes made with a stylus, usually placed at the left of a worker's name, presumably to indicate whether the listed ration has been issued."[2]
As a verb, to check (off) means to add such a mark. Printed forms, printed documents, and computer software (seecheckbox) commonly include squares in which to place check marks.
The check mark is a predominant affirmative symbol of convenience in the English-speaking world because of its instant and simple composition. In other language communities, there may be different conventions.
It is common in Swedish schools for a✓ to indicate that an answer is incorrect,[3][4][5] while "R", from the Swedishrätt, i.e., "correct", is used to indicate that an answer is correct.
In Finnish, ✓ stands forväärin, i.e., "wrong", due to its similarity to a slanted v.[citation needed] The opposite, "correct", is marked with, a slanted vertical line emphasized with two dots[6] (see alsocommercial minus sign).
In Japan, theO mark is used instead of the check mark, and the X or ✓ mark are commonly used for wrong.[7]
In the Netherlands (and former Dutch colonies) theflourish of approval (orkrul) is used for approving a section or sum.
InGerman-speaking countries, ✓ is used for “correct” or “done”, but not usually for ticking boxes, which are crossed instead. The opposite of ✓ is ƒ (short forfalsch “wrong”).
Unicode provides various check marks, the one calledCHECK MARK is in theU+27xxDingbats block:
