What 另 means
It marks a separate choice or arrangement. Before a noun, it can mean “another”; before an action, “separately” or “additionally.”
Where does 另 come from?
A Song-printed dictionary records the form. Longkan Shoujian was compiled under the Liao dynasty; its Song printing attests 另, but not its first appearance.
A 2024 study describes 另 joining clauses in Malaysian Chinese; there it works as a conjunction, linking parts of a sentence.
Don't confuse it with
2Questions people ask
1Why does 另 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 另
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 53E6, then Alt+X to get 另.
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 unified ideograph-53e6”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 53e6, then Enter or Space.
HTML
另CSS
\53E6Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
另
HTML hex
另
CSS content
content: "\53E6";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E5%8F%A6
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.