What means
It turns text positions into rough pixels.
An octant is a text tile split into two columns and four rows; this pattern fills five cells. Early computers joined the blocks into text pictures.
The Unicode proposal maps the pattern to Kaypro block-graphics code CC and cites a 1983 Kaypro 10 guide. It sought to keep legacy text convertible for emulators.
Why does it show as a replacement character?
Your font or terminal may lack this glyph.
Ratatui's documentation in 2026 describes octant support as less widespread than Braille; unsupported terminals may show �. This is a display fallback, not a change to the text.
Part of the collection
Questions people ask
1Why does show as a box on some devices?
It is recent: Unicode added it in version 16.0 (2024), and phones and computers whose fonts are older than that have nothing to draw it with. The character itself is still correct and copies correctly.
More like this
10
How to type or find
- Search it as
- terminal graphics · text graphics · kaypro · text art
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𜵤\1CD641CD64 in Word for Windows, then press Alt+X. If more hex digits follow, select the code first; Microsoft's instructions were checked in 2026.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.