What ③ means
It marks the third item, step, or option. Enclosed digits serve as numbered bullets and were retained for compatibility with East Asian character sets. The same design appears in ITC Zapf Dingbats Series 100, a Western font of decorative symbols.
Neutral, functional list marker.
Don't confuse it with
4Questions people ask
1Why does ③ show as a box?
A box or blank usually means the receiving font or text system cannot display ③. As of 2026, some older or restricted systems may still garble or omit circled numerals.
How to type ③
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2462, then Alt+X to get ③.
Windows
Win+Rrun charmap for the full table, or use the emoji picker's Ω symbols tab (Win + .).
macOS
Control+Command+SpaceOpen the character viewer and search “circled digit three”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2462, then Enter or Space.
HTML
③CSS
\2462macOS
As of 2026, enable Unicode Hex Input in macOS Input Sources; switch to it, hold Option, and type 2462.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
③
HTML hex
③
CSS content
content: "\2462";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%91%A2
1
On screen
1
Code points
1
JS .length
3
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.