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⍼
Angzarr
In UnicodeU+237C ⍼ RIGHT ANGLE WITH DOWNWARDS ZIGZAG ARROW

The angzarr (⍼) is an obscure typographical symbol representing azimuth,[1][2] dating back to at least the mid 20th century, which became notorious during the first half of the 2020s for its obscurity and lack of a widely recognised meaning (compare ghost characters).

The name is from an abbreviation of its ISO 9573-13 name, "Angle with Down Zig-zag Arrow",[3] also reflected in its Unicode name, "Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow". Its HTML entity reference, originally defined in ISO 9573-13 for use in SGML, is ⍼.[3] It has been included in Unicode since version 3.2.

History

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The symbol ⍼ can be found in H. Berthold AG symbol catalogs published some time in the 1950s and 1960s, where it is described as a mathematical symbol for "Azimut, Richtungswinkel".[1][2] Herrman Holmqvist also describes the symbol as Riktningsvinkel (azimuth) in Swedish in a book about symbols published in 1964.[4][5]

It is also found in a 1963 Monotype typeset catalog of arrow characters;[6][7] it does not appear in an earlier 1954 edition of the same catalog.[7][8] Monotype listed the symbol as matrix serial number S9576.[6][7][9] A later 1972 Monotype catalog, for mathematical characters, listed it under another serial number, S16139;[10][11] the reason for the redundant serial number is unclear.[7] It is unknown why Monotype added the character, or what purpose it was intended to serve,[12][11] although much of Monotype's character repertoire for movable type originated from customer requests, including corporate logos.[7]

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.[13] The STIX Fonts project adopted the Angzarr symbol from the ISO's SGML characters.[14]

In March 2000, the Angzarr symbol reached wide distribution when the Unicode Technical Committee, in collaboration with the STIX project, proposed adding it to ISO/IEC 10646, the ISO standard with which the Unicode Standard is synchronised. The Angzarr was proposed in the ISO working-group document Proposal for Encoding Additional Mathematical Symbols, although no specific purpose is listed for the symbol.[15]

The lack of meaning associated with the Angzarr symbol gained notoriety in 2022 when a blog post was published on its unknown origins.[16][17][18] The blog was updated in 2023, confirming the appearance of Angzarr in a 1972 Monotype typeset catalogue with a scan of the page,[11][19] and in 2024, confirming its appearance in earlier Monotype catalogues.[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b H. Berthold AG (c. 1950). Berthold-Zeichenprobe, Probe Nr. 360 E. p. 7.
  2. ^ a b H. Berthold AG (c. 1960). Berthold-Zeichenprobe, Probe Nr. 360 F. p. 7.
  3. ^ a b ISO. "Added Math Symbols: Arrow Relations". Techniques for using SGML, Part 13: Public entity sets for mathematics and science. ISO 9573-13:1991.
  4. ^ Holmqvist, Herrman (1964). En liten samling tecken samt deras betydelse [A small collection of signs and their meanings]. Lund.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  5. ^ jens persson (28 December 2023). ""@ionchy I read your blog post…"". typo.social.
  6. ^ a b "Special Signs: Arrows and Shafts". Index to Classified Lists of Monotype Special Matrices (1963 ed.). Monotype. January 1963.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Chan, Jonathan (7 August 2024). "UPDATE: U+237C ⍼ is (also) S9576 ⍼".
  8. ^ "Special Signs: Arrows and Shafts". Index to Classified Lists of Monotype Special Matrices (1954 ed.). Monotype. December 1954.
  9. ^ "Special Signs: Arrows and Shafts". Index to Classified Lists of Monotype Special Matrices (1966 ed.). Monotype. October 1966.
  10. ^ List of Mathematical Characters. Vol. L231 and L231B. Monotype. July 1972. Morison Collection ID 1972.12.177.
  11. ^ a b c Chan, Jonathan (6 June 2023). "UPDATE: U+237C ⍼ ⍼". Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  12. ^ List, Jenny (24 April 2022). "Can You Identify This Mystery Unicode Glyph?". Hackaday. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  13. ^ "ISO/IEC TR 9573-13:1991". ISO.org. ISO/IEC. 1991. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Stix Project".
  15. ^ U.S. National Body (14 March 2000). Proposal for Encoding Additional Mathematical Symbols in the BMP (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N2191.
  16. ^ Half as Interesting (6 May 2022). ⍼ – Why Nobody Knows What This One Unicode Character Means. Retrieved 19 July 2024 – via YouTube.
  17. ^ "U+237C ⍼ Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow". Y Combinator. 13 April 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
  18. ^ Chan, Jonathan (9 April 2022). "U+237C ⍼ RIGHT ANGLE WITH DOWNWARDS ZIGZAG ARROW". Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  19. ^ "Update: U+237C ⍼ &Angzarr;". Y Combinator. 17 June 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
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