Angzarr

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Angzarr (⍼) is the name of a ghost character-like Unicode symbol of unknown origin. It was added to Unicode 3.2, but the symbol has been present in works prior to its release. The name is from an abbreviation of its ISO 9573-13 name, "Angle with Down Zig-zag Arrow",^[1] also reflected in its Unicode name, "Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow". Its HTML entity reference, originally defined in ISO 9573-13, is ⍼.^[1] To date, it's unknown what it means.^[2]

The earliest known use of the symbol ⍼ is found in a 1972 Monotype typeset catalog of mathematical characters. Monotype listed the symbol as matrix serial number S16139. It is unknown why Monotype added the character, or what purpose it was intended to serve.^[3][4]

In 1988, the International Organization for Standardization added the symbol to its Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) definition, apparently pulling it from the Monotype character set.^[5] The STIX Fonts project adopted the Angzarr symbol from the ISO's SGML characters.^[6]

In March 2000, the Angzarr symbol reached wide distribution when the Unicode Project proposed adding it to the Unicode Standard. The symbol appeared in the ISO publication Proposal for Encoding Additional Mathematical Symbols, although the symbol has no specific purpose.^[7]

The lack of meaning associated with the Angzarr symbol gained notoriety in 2022 when Jonathan Chan published a detailed blog on its unknown origins.^[2][8] He updated his blog in 2023, confirming the appearance of Angzarr in the 1972 Monotype typeset catalog and uploading a scan of the page.^[4]

• List of Unicode characters
• Arrow (symbol)
• Ghost characters – Erroneous kanji