Arose independently in variouscultures, around the same time as thepentagram (⛤) and other stars with various numbers of points.
The five-pointedstar: five (typicallyevenly) spaced,outward-reachingtriangular points formed by a singlecontinuous, connectingline in anequidistant circular pattern around a centre point, with oneprotrusion at thetop, twoacross from each other at thesides, and the remaining two points at thebottom completing asymmetric arrangement. In variousdepictions of the symbol, however, it may be hollow (☆) or solid (★), and have uneven sides.
Probably fromEgyptian𓇼(“logogram forsbꜣ:star,meteor (falling star)”) (image:
), in the form of a five-pointedstarfish. Notably, around the same time inMesopotamia, there were artistic, non-lexical (as in non-cuneiform) depictions of⛤(apentagram),✴,✷ (eight-pointed stars) and✶(a six-pointed star), like theStar of Ishtar; compareSumerian𒀭(“sky,heaven”), in cuneiform, which is descended from such drawings, and𒀯(“star,constellation”).
★
- Astar.
★
- Adecorative symbol; afleuron.
- Unity,harmony.
- Luck.
- Hope.
- (chiefly vexillology, graphic design)Freedom,liberty,independence;democracy.
- (chiefly US politics, also vexillology)Progress,trust.
Inheraldry, the English name for a five-pointed star is amullet or “mullet of five points.”
From★(“a star”).
★
- A criticalrating, with more stars indicating a higherscore, betterquality or betterperformance.
- A mark ofexcellence.
- Indicatesvictory; awin.
- (sports, originally soccer)On akit, indicates atournament orchampionship victory.
- Anaward, aprize; adistinction, anhonour.
- (chiefly video games) Anachievement; areward,rewards.
- (entertainment industry, signage) Atalented person; astar; thetalent.
- Indicates something or someoneimportant,noteworthy,special orsignificant.
- Ahighlighted orselected person or thing; amarker.
- Denotes thebest or mostexceptional item in alist.
- Afeatured item or thing.
- Apopular item or thing.
- Arecommendation.
- Indicates somethingrare.
- Denotes theleader,manager, principalrepresentative orhead of agroup,coalition orteam.
- Indicates agoal, anend point; adestination.
- (uncommon)Apopularity rating, with more stars indicating a higher level ofnotoriety or popularity.
- (military)Insignia,with more stars indicating a higher,superior or moreseniorrank orposition.
- (graphical user interface)Favourite(“to add to one's list offavourite items on awebsite orservice that allows users to compile such lists”); favourites, one's favourites.
- (graphical user interface)Bookmark(“to create arecord of theaddress of afile orInternetpage, serving as ashortcut to it”); bookmarks;save; saved items.
- (cartography)Denotes acapital city.
- (cartography)Denotes alandmark or otherpoint of interest.
- (games)Indicates apower-up,ability orcollectible item.
- Fame;stardom.
- (animation, especially anime, comics)Appears in theeyes of acharacter to indicate that they areexcited,surprised, inawe or incrediblyhappy.
- (video games, tabletop games)Alternative form of✪(“a fictional butfunctional,in-game currency”).
- (video games)Adifficulty rating, with more stars indicating a higher level of difficulty.
Astylisation.
★(typography)
- Alternative form of*
- Alternative form of•(“introducesitems in alist”).
From:
★
- Meaning dependent upon thecolour of the star:
- (red)Communism; theRed Star.
- (black, vexillology) TheBlack Star of Africa.
- (green)Esperanto.
Depiction of asparkle.
★
- Alternative form of✨︎(“sparkling clean or new”).
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