The Complete Guide to the ♡ (White Heart Suit) Symbol
The ♡ (White Heart Suit) is a classic typographic symbol originally designed to represent the suit of hearts in a digital deck of playing cards. Unlike standard colored emojis, this character is a hollow, uncolored outline that adapts to your font's color. Today, internet users widely adopt the White Heart Suit to express affection, love, and friendship while maintaining a clean, minimalist text aesthetic.
Introduced in Unicode version 1.1 in 1993, the ♡ symbol lives under the code point U+2661 within the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Its origins lie in early computing and typesetting, where developers needed standardized characters to display card games like Solitaire or Hearts. Because it exists as a standard text character rather than an emoji, it perfectly matches the size and styling of surrounding text.
You will spot the White Heart Suit across various digital spaces, taking on new meanings beyond its card-playing roots. On social media platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram, users weave the symbol into usernames, bios, and captions for a delicate, minimalist vibe. It is a massive staple in kaomoji—Japanese text-based emoticons—adding a touch of sweetness to faces like (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) ♡. In user interface design and programming, developers frequently use the outlined ♡ as an unclicked "like" or "favorite" button, which then fills with color when activated.
Typing the White Heart Suit is straightforward across different operating systems. On Windows, hold the Alt key and type 9825 on your numeric keypad. Mac users can open the Character Viewer by pressing Control + Command + Space, then search for "white heart suit". If you are building a website, you can insert it using the HTML entity ♡ or the hex code ♡. In Microsoft Word, simply type 2661 followed by Alt + X to transform the code directly into the symbol.
Do not confuse the ♡ (White Heart Suit) with the modern 🤍 (White Heart Emoji) introduced in Unicode 12.0. The emoji renders as a solid, 3D-style white heart, whereas the White Heart Suit remains a flat, transparent outline. Another close relative is the ♥ (Black Heart Suit, U+2665), which functions as the solid text counterpart to the hollow outline. Whether you are coding a retro card game or curating an aesthetic Instagram bio, the White Heart Suit offers a versatile, timeless way to share a little love.