The ⚘ (Flower) Symbol: A Guide to Its Meaning and Typography

The ⚘ (Flower) symbol, officially designated as U+2698 in the Unicode standard, is a classic typographic mark representing a stylized upright blossom. Unlike modern, colorful emojis, this elegant text-based character is frequently used in traditional printing, botany, and digital design to indicate flora, decorate text, or signify a botanical context. Because it renders in monochrome text by default, it offers a vintage, minimalist aesthetic that sets it apart from standard keyboard emojis.

Introduced in Unicode version 4.1 in 2005, the ⚘ symbol belongs to the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Its design mimics traditional printer's ornaments, often referred to as fleurons or dingbats. Long before digital text, typesetters used similar floral marks to visually separate paragraphs, frame title pages, or add elegant flourishes to printed books. Today, U+2698 preserves that rich typographical history in the digital realm.

You will spot the ⚘ symbol in a variety of contexts. In botany and scientific literature, it occasionally marks plant species, flowering periods, or botanical terminology. In lexicography, some dictionaries use it to denote a specific type of entry or a root word. Meanwhile, on social media and blogging platforms, it has found a modern resurgence. Fans of "cottagecore" aesthetics and ASCII art frequently use it to create minimalist, vintage-looking text designs where a bright pink or red emoji might feel too visually loud. It also makes for a charming, understated bullet point in digital lists and bios.

Typing the ⚘ symbol requires a few different methods depending on your device, as it does not appear on standard mobile emoji keyboards. On a Mac, you can enable the Unicode Hex Input keyboard and hold Option while typing 2698. On Windows, you can use the Alt code by holding Alt and typing 9880 on the numeric keypad, or simply use the built-in Character Map tool. For web developers and programmers, the HTML entity ⚘ or ⚘ will render the flower perfectly on a webpage. The easiest method across all mobile devices and computers is to copy and paste it directly from a symbol registry.

If you are looking for similar characters, the Unicode standard offers plenty of floral options. The ⚘ symbol shares its meaning with colorful emojis like the 🌷 (Tulip) and 🌹 (Rose), which feature vibrant, modern artwork for casual texting. For other minimalist text symbols, it pairs beautifully with the ✿ (Black Florette) and ❀ (White Florette) dingbats, or the historic ⚜ (Fleur-de-lis).