What ① means
It marks the first item in a numbered list.
Depending on the document, read it as “one,” “item one,” or the equivalent of “(1).” The circle sets the label apart from nearby text.
The wider enclosed-number family includes forms inherited from older East Asian character sets, where they served as numbered bullets. Japanese publications use circled numbers in headings, lists, and exam questions; Japanese legal documents also use them to structure material.
Document-like and structured; font rendering may change its weight or spacing without changing its list role.
Don't confuse it with
4Combination ideas
1Questions people ask
1Why does ① show as a box on some devices?
Because that device's fonts have no glyph for it. The character is still correct and still copies correctly — the box is a missing glyph, not a broken character.
How to type ①
①\2460Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.