What 莽 means
It is a compatibility form mapped to 莽. Unicode maps 莽 to 莽 (U+83BD). Taiwan’s CNS 11643-1992 standard lists it at T4-3474 on plane 4, one numbered section of its character set. This code preserves the original CNS entry during conversion.
Will normalization keep 莽 unchanged?
No. NFC and NFD turn it into 莽. These forms make equivalent text compare consistently; both replace 莽 with 莽.
If software normalizes 莽, the CNS code is lost.
Questions people ask
1Why does 莽 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 莽
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2F99D, then Alt+X to get 莽.
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 “cjk compatibility ideograph-2f99d”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2f99d, then Enter or Space.
HTML
莽CSS
\2F99DGNOME or GTK
As of 2026-10-03, press Ctrl+Shift+U, release the keys, enter 2F99D, then press Enter or Space.
macOS Unicode Hex Input
As of 2026-10-03, its four-digit limit excludes 莽; use a character picker or another Unicode input method.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
莽
HTML hex
莽
CSS content
content: "\2F99D";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%F0%AF%A6%9D
1
On screen
1
Code points
2
JS .length
4
UTF-8 bytes
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.