What 杖 means
It maps to 杖, a Han character. 杖 means a staff or walking stick; Han characters are used in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean writing.
The mapped character has meanings across languages. In Chinese, 杖 can mean a walking stick or staff, and it also has a historical use for caning. In Japanese, つえ means a walking stick; じょう can mean a short fighting staff or an older caning punishment. The Japanese reading つえ appears in the Man’yōshū, a poetry collection completed after 759 CE.
Why was FA94 encoded?
To preserve a source distinction during round-trip conversion. KPS 10721-2000 pairs 杖 with KP1-4ABD, while Unicode maps it to 杖. This lets converted data return to its source form without losing that distinction.
For ordinary writing, use 杖. Fonts made for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean may draw it differently without changing which character the text contains.
Technical and archival: using 杖 signals that a legacy source form or exact code point matters.
Ordinary writing usually uses 杖; normalization can erase 杖’s separate code-point identity.
Questions people ask
3Why does FA94 turn into 杖?
Normalization does this: it maps 杖 to 杖, removing the separate compatibility code point while retaining the mapped character.
Can I use FA94 in ordinary text?
Usually no. Use 杖 for ordinary writing; keep 杖 when the legacy source form or exact code-point distinction matters.
Why does FA94 look different in another font?
It can. Fonts designed for Chinese, Japanese, or Korean may draw the same encoded character with different regional shapes.
How to type 杖
杖\FA94Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.