Enclosed Alphanumerics is a
Unicode block
A Unicode block is one of several contiguous ranges of numeric character codes (code points) of the Unicode character set that are defined by the Unicode Consortium for administrative and documentation purposes. Typically, proposals such as the ...
of
typographical symbols
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line spacing, letter spac ...
of an
alphanumeric
Alphanumericals or alphanumeric characters are any collection of number characters and letters in a certain language. Sometimes such characters may be mistaken one for the other.
Merriam-Webster suggests that the term "alphanumeric" may often ...
within a circle, a bracket or other not-closed enclosure, or ending in a full stop.
It is currently fully allocated. Within the
Basic Multilingual Plane
In the Unicode standard, a plane is a contiguous group of 65,536 (216) code points. There are 17 planes, identified by the numbers 0 to 16, which corresponds with the possible values 00–1016 of the first two positions in six position hexadecimal ...
, a few additional enclosed numerals are in the
Dingbats and the
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months is a Unicode block containing circled and parenthesized Katakana, Hangul, and CJK ideographs. Also included in the block are miscellaneous glyphs that would more likely fit in CJK Compatibility or Enclosed Alp ...
blocks. There is also a block with more of these characters in the
Supplementary Multilingual Plane
In the Unicode standard, a plane is a contiguous group of 65,536 (216) code points. There are 17 planes, identified by the numbers 0 to 16, which corresponds with the possible values 00–1016 of the first two positions in six position hexadecimal ...
named
Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement
Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement is a Unicode block consisting of Latin alphabet characters and Arabic numerals enclosed in circles, ovals or boxes, used for a variety of purposes. It is encoded in the range U+1F100–U+1F1FF in the Supple ...
(U+1F100–U+1F1FF), as of
Unicode 6.0
Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 cha ...
.
Purpose
Many of these characters were originally intended for use as bullets for lists.
[''The Unicode Standard'', 6.0.1] The parenthesized forms are historically based on typewriter approximations of the circled versions.
Although these roles have been supplanted by styles and other markup in "rich text" contexts, the characters are included in the Unicode standard "for interoperability with the legacy East Asian character sets and for the occasional text context where such symbols otherwise occur."
The Unicode Standard considers these characters to be distinct from characters which are similar in form but specialized in purpose, such as the
circled C,
P or
R characters which are defined as copyright and trademark symbols or the
circled a used for an at sign.
A circled s (Ⓢ) was used in documents circa 1900 printed by German missionaries, especially the
Basel Mission
The Basel Mission is a Christianity, Christian missionary society based in Switzerland. It was active from 1815 to 2001, when it transferred the operative work to , the successor organization of ''Kooperation Evangelischer Kirchen und Missione'' ...
, in the
Malayalam language
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...
to denote a
ditto mark
The ditto mark is a shorthand sign, used mostly in hand-written text, indicating that the words or figures above it are to be repeated.
The mark is made using "a pair of apostrophes"; "a pair of marks used underneath a word"; the symbol (quot ...
.
Block
Emoji
The Enclosed Alphanumerics block contains one
emoji
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...
:
U+24C2, the enclosed M used as a symbol for
mask work
Layout designs (topographies) of integrated circuits are a field in the protection of intellectual property.
In United States intellectual property law, a "mask work" is a two or three-dimensional layout or topography of an integrated circuit ...
s.
It defaults to a text presentation and has two
standardized variants defined to specify text presentation (U+FE0E VS15) or emoji-style (U+FE0F VS16).
History
The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Enclosed Alphanumerics block:
See also
* Special characters:
**
Enclosed C
**
Enclosed A
**
Copyright symbol
The copyright symbol, or copyright sign, (a circled capital letter C for copyright), is the symbol used in copyright notices for works other than sound recordings. 17 U.S.C. The use of the symbol is described by the Universal Copyright Conv ...
**
Registered trademark symbol
The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or wor ...
**
Sound recording copyright symbol
The sound recording copyright symbol or phonogram symbol, (letter P in a circle), is the copyright symbol used to provide notice of copyright in a sound recording (phonogram) embodied in a phonorecord ( LPs, audiotapes, cassette tapes, compac ...
**
At sign
The at sign () is an accounting and invoice abbreviation meaning "at a rate of" (e.g. 7 Widget (economics), widgets @ £2 per widget = £14), now seen more widely in email addresses and social media platform User (computing), handles. It is norm ...
(partially enclosed A)
* Character sets:
**
Japanese rebus monogram
**
Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement
Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement is a Unicode block consisting of Latin alphabet characters and Arabic numerals enclosed in circles, ovals or boxes, used for a variety of purposes. It is encoded in the range U+1F100–U+1F1FF in the Supple ...
**
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months
Enclosed CJK Letters and Months is a Unicode block containing circled and parenthesized Katakana, Hangul, and CJK ideographs. Also included in the block are miscellaneous glyphs that would more likely fit in CJK Compatibility or Enclosed Alp ...
(extends enclosed Arabic decimal numbers to ㊿)
References
{{Unicode navigation
Typographical symbols
Alphanumerics