What ⺇ means
It marks the “table” radical in a character index.
A radical is a character part used to group dictionary entries. Radical-stroke lookup finds it, then counts the remaining strokes.
几 meant a low table or backrest. It appears in the Han dictionary Shuowen Jiezi, presented to the emperor in 121 CE. The 18th-century Kangxi Dictionary organized characters under 214 radicals; ⺇ is the index variant for number 16.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Why does ⺇ 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 ⺇
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2E87, then Alt+X to get ⺇.
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 radical table”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2e87, then Enter or Space.
HTML
⺇CSS
\2E87How do I type ⺇?
Search U+2E87 in a Unicode character map or input tool; typing 几 enters the related ideograph.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⺇
HTML hex
⺇
CSS content
content: "\2E87";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%BA%87
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.