Black Left-Pointing Pointer

It directs attention leftward or marks an earlier item. In text menus, chats, and console displays, developers and writers place ◄ next to labels or options to signal a return to a previous view or highlight an active selection. Its visual meaning depends entirely on the text beside it.

Because it has no stem, it looks heavier and more compact than a standard arrow (←). Designers occasionally use pairs like ◄ and ► on either side of a word or heading as decorative brackets to draw the eye inward.

How did pointing symbols evolve?

Before abstract geometric arrowheads became common in print, scribes drew a manicule—a tiny pointing hand—in book margins to highlight notable passages. They became especially frequent in 14th- and 15th-century Italian manuscripts, and early type designers like Claude Garamond adapted them into metal ornaments around 1530.

Graphic arrows appeared later in technical diagrams, such as an influential 1737 waterwheel illustration showing water flow with an archer's arrow. By the 19th century, arrows lost their decorative feathers, and in 1922 logicians adopted them for formal implication. Unicode geometric symbols like ◄ provide a clean, stemless arrowhead tailored for digital screens.