Shape symbols: circles, squares, triangles and more

• Circles: ● ○ ◎ ◉ ◯ ⬤ ◌ and part-filled circles ◐ ◑ ◒ ◓ ◔ ◕
• Squares and rectangles: ■ □ ▪ ▫ ◼ ◻ ⬛ ⬜ ▬ ▮
• Triangles: ▲ △ ▼ ▽ ▶ ▷ ◀ ◁ and corner triangles ◢ ◣ ◤ ◥
• Diamonds: ◆ ◇ ◊ ◈
• Polygons: ⬟ ⬠ pentagons, ⬢ ⬡ hexagons
• Shading and blocks: ░ ▒ ▓ █
• Box drawing: ─ │ ┌ ┐ └ ┘ ═ ║
• Colored emoji: 🔴 🟠 🟡 🟢 🔵 🟣 🟤 ⚫ ⚪, 🟥 🟧 🟨 🟩 🟦 🟪 🟫, 🔶 🔷 🔺 🔻

Search in English, for example hexagon, triangle or half, to filter the grid.

Unicode names describe the drawing, not the color you see. Black means filled and white means outline: ■ is BLACK SQUARE and □ is WHITE SQUARE, even in dark mode, where the filled one may appear light.

Size is part of the name too. From smallest to largest: ▪ BLACK SMALL SQUARE, ◼ BLACK MEDIUM SQUARE, ■ BLACK SQUARE and ⬛ BLACK LARGE SQUARE. Circles follow the same idea with ● and ⬤ BLACK LARGE CIRCLE.

A few shapes, including ▪ ▫ ◼ ◻ ▶ ◀ ⬛ ⬜, also have an emoji form. Phones sometimes draw them as colored emoji, which can make them bigger than the text around them. The text variation selector (U+FE0E) after the character asks for the plain look, but not every app respects it. If a shape suddenly turns into an emoji, try a similar shape that has no emoji form, such as ■ instead of ⬛.

The emoji circles and squares give you color without images. The orange, yellow, green, purple and brown circles and all of the colored squares were added in Unicode 12.0, so very old devices may not show them; 🔴 🔵 ⚫ ⚪ are older and supported almost everywhere.

Popular uses:

• Status lights: 🟢 online, 🟡 away, 🔴 busy
• Color-coded lists: mark tasks or teams with 🟦 🟩 🟨
• Word-game results: grids of 🟩 🟨 ⬛ to share a score without spoilers
• Pixel art and simple charts in chats that only accept text
• Ratings: 🟢🟢🟢⚪⚪ for three out of five

Progress bars: ▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░ 50% works anywhere text works, from bios to commit messages.

Star-free ratings: ●●●○○ reads clearly and keeps the color of your text.

Boxes and tables in plain text: box-drawing characters build frames like ┌──┐ / └──┘ in code comments, README files and terminal output. They line up only in a monospaced font, so they suit code editors better than social posts.

Diagrams and math: △ is used for triangles (△ABC), ◊ (LOZENGE) appears in logic, and ◯ is a large circle for drawings.

A tip for designers: ◌ DOTTED CIRCLE is the conventional placeholder for showing a combining mark on its own, the way dictionaries display an accent.

Several shapes come from the old PC character set and still have Alt codes on Windows. Hold Alt and type the number on the numeric keypad:

Shape	Alt code	Shape	Alt code
■	Alt + 254	█	Alt + 219
▲	Alt + 30	░	Alt + 176
▼	Alt + 31	▒	Alt + 177
►	Alt + 16	▓	Alt + 178
◄	Alt + 17	─	Alt + 196
○	Alt + 9	│	Alt + 179
◘	Alt + 8	┌	Alt + 218
▬	Alt + 22	┘	Alt + 217

The low codes (Alt + 8 to Alt + 31) work in most classic desktop programs but not in every app. On a Mac with the US layout, Option + Shift + V types ◊; for other shapes, open the Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space. In Word, type a hex code such as 25CF and press Alt + X for ●. Click shapes here and use Add to my text to build a bar or pattern in the text box at the bottom.