Square letters 🄰 to 🅉: the box letters
The square letters … are single Unicode characters, a capital drawn inside a thin square, not a font and not an image. That is why they survive copy and paste into an Instagram or TikTok bio, a Discord name, a tweet, a YouTube title, a spreadsheet cell or a file name, where no font can be chosen. A "square letters generator" or "box letters font" simply swaps each letter you type for its boxed twin from this page: , , .
They live in the Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block, next to the circled and parenthesized letters of Circled Letters & Numbers. The first of them were encoded in Unicode 5.2 in 2009 for ARIB STD-B24, the Japanese digital television standard, whose programme guides mark shows with boxed letters, and the full A to Z was completed in Unicode 6.0 in 2010, the version that also brought the Japanese phone emoji. The Unicode chart still records what some of them meant on those screens and on map legends: is a bank, news, progressive broadcasting, stereo, wide-format 16:9, a tobacconist and the day of arrival (Anreisetag) of a German travel map.
The family is capitals only. Unicode never added a boxed lowercase alphabet, so a generator that promises "box letters lowercase" either leaves small letters plain or quietly capitalises them. The single exception is , a small d in a square, which marks a data broadcast on Japanese TV. There are no squared digits either; the keycap emoji to are the closest thing, and they are included below. For the same alphabet with circles instead of squares see Circled Letters & Numbers, and for wide letters that fill a square cell without drawing one, Fullwidth Text (Vaporwave Letters).
Black square letters to and why four of them are emoji
The negative squared letters … are a white capital on a solid square. Unicode allows the corners to be slightly rounded, which is why they look like app icons or keyboard keys in most fonts. and read louder than the white boxes and are the ones most people mean by "black square letters" or "square font".
Four of them, , are emoji, because Japanese phones had them before Unicode did: A, B and O stood for the blood types that Japanese pop culture ties to personality, and P was the parking sign. completes the blood types. So on a phone those four turn into coloured buttons, red for the blood types and blue for parking, while and the other twenty-two stay black and white. The emoji took on a life of its own in the meme of 2017, which swapped letters in ordinary words for the red B. The other negative squared letters also carry the old Japanese TV meanings in the Unicode chart: city centre, fire station, bus stop, junction, leisure centre, museum. For the rest of the letter emoji, and the regional indicators, see Letter Emoji & Alphabet Symbols.
A word of caution for accessibility: a screen reader reads as "squared Latin capital letter A" and as "A button (blood type)", one at a time, so a name written in square letters is a long listen. Keep them for a display name or a heading and write the rest in plain letters.
Squared words: and the TV labels
The squared word emoji are the buttons of a Japanese phone screen: OK, COOL, NEW, FREE, UP! (new information), VS (versus), SOS, ID, CL (clear) and NG, the Japanese term for "no good", also used for an outtake. Most platforms draw them as blue squares with white letters, and red. is the one that gets used every day, in matchups, polls and "Team A Team B" captions; and label products and giveaways. All are listed with their meanings in Yes, No & OK Emoji and Letter Emoji & Alphabet Symbols.
Next to them Unicode keeps a set of plain squared labels that never became emoji, the marks that Japanese programme guides and TV menus print in a box. From 2009: HV (hi-vision, HDTV), MV (multi-view), SD, SS (surround stereo), PPV (pay-per-view), WC and DJ, with the road signs parking closed, IC (interchange), PA (parking area), SA (service area) and WC. Unicode 9.0 added the 2016 set from ARIB STD-B62: 3D, second screen, 2K, 4K, 8K, 5.1, 7.1 and 22.2 channel surround, 60P and 120P frame rates, data, HC (hybrid cast), HDR, Hi-Res, Lossless, SHV (super hi-vision), UHD and VOD.
Because they are symbols, not emoji, they show in the colour of the surrounding text and only where the font has them; Windows (Segoe UI Symbol), macOS, iOS and current Android all do, older Android phones show a box. They are perfect for spec lists and video descriptions: says "4K, HDR, 5.1 sound" in three characters.
Japanese signs in a square: and the TV listings
The squared kanji are the signs of Japanese streets, shops, tickets and television, each one character in a box. The emoji among them are the ones Japanese phones had: ココ "here", サ service charge, 禁 prohibited, 空 vacancy (an empty seat, room or taxi), 満 full, 指 reserved, 合 passed (an exam), 申 application, 営 open for business, and the money signs 無 free of charge, 有 not free, 月 monthly amount and 割 discount. Their everyday meanings are explained one by one in Japanese Emoji Meanings; the non-emoji marks that follow are in Japanese Text Symbols.
The rest come from ARIB STD-B24, the same digital-TV standard as the squared letters, and they are the marks a Japanese programme guide prints beside a show: 字 close-captioned, 手 sign-language interpretation, 双 two-way (interactive), 二 bilingual, 多 sound multiplex, 解 commentary, デ data broadcast, 天 weather forecast, 交 traffic information, 映 drama film, 料 pay broadcast, 前 first part, 後 latter part, 再 rebroadcast, 新 new series, 初 first broadcast, 終 last episode, 生 live, 販 mail-order, 声 voice actors, 吹 dubbed version, 演 performed by, and 配 programme delivery over network, which arrived later, in Unicode 9.0.
A whole baseball team hides in the set, because Japanese scoreboards write fielding positions as one kanji: 投 pitcher, 捕 catcher, 一 first base, 二 second base, 三 third base, 遊 shortstop, 左 left field, 中 centre field, 右 right field, with 打 batter and 走 runner, and the emoji 指 doubles as the designated hitter. ほか "and others" is the only squared hiragana. Note that and are circled, not squared, and belong with the circled letters.
Squared operators and signs: and how to type them
Mathematics has its own boxed signs: squared plus, squared minus, squared times and squared dot (\boxplus, \boxminus, \boxtimes, \boxdot in LaTeX), used for operations that are "like" the plain ones, for instance for a direct sum of structures or for an external tensor product, with and the squared logical for authors who need more. The full operator list is in Math Symbols. also happens to be the usual stand-in for the Windows key in keyboard shortcuts: L, D.
In the APL programming language the empty square , the quad, is the window to the system, and a sign drawn inside it names a system function: quad question, quad divide for matrix inversion, quote quad for input and output, and the arrows . A few more signs in a box are everyday: and check boxes (the complete set is in Check Mark Symbols), the cross-mark button, the clear key of the Mac number pad, a squared key, the saltire and the question mark on a black square from old computer character sets. Plain empty squares are a different family: Square & Rectangle Symbols.
To type them: on this page, tap a character to copy it. In Word type the code and press Alt X, for instance 1F130 Alt X for and 1F170 Alt X for ; Windows alt codes do not reach these characters. On a Mac open the Character Viewer (Ctrl Cmd Space) and search "squared"; on Linux press Ctrl Shift U, type the code and press space. Phones have no keyboard for them, so copying from here is the way. Instagram and Discord accept them in bios, display names and messages, but not in usernames and handles, which allow plain letters, digits, dots and underscores only.
Simboli
202Fai clic su un simbolo per copiarlo e aprire la sua pagina.
Square letters A to Z
White box letters 🄰 and black (negative) square letters 🅰. Unicode has capitals only; the one small square letter is 🆥. 🅰 🅱 🅾 🅿 are also emoji, so phones draw them as red and blue buttons.
Squared words and buttons
The emoji buttons from Japanese phones: OK, COOL, NEW, FREE, UP!, VS, SOS, ID, CL (clear), NG (no good) and the AB blood type, plus the keyboard input buttons.
Digits on a key
Unicode has no squared digits. The keycap emoji 0️⃣ to 🔟 are the digits in a square on every phone, so this is the row to use for square numbers.
Squared TV and road labels
Programme-guide marks from the Japanese broadcasting standards ARIB STD-B24 and B62: picture formats, sound formats, frame rates and a few road signs. Plain symbols, not emoji, so they show in black and white.
Japanese signs in a square
Kanji and kana in a box, the signs seen on Japanese shops, tickets and TV listings. The coloured ones are emoji; the rest are symbols from the same standard.
Squared math and logic operators
The boxed operators of mathematics: ⊞ boxplus, ⊟ boxminus, ⊠ boxtimes, ⊡ boxdot and their relatives, plus the squared and ∧ ∨ of logic.
APL quad symbols
In the APL programming language the square ⎕ (the quad) is the window to the system, and a sign inside it is a system function: ⍰ quad question, ⌹ quad divide (matrix inverse), ⍞ quote quad (input and output).
How to use them
6 situationsFai clic per copiareSquare Letters & Symbols (Box Letters) combos
15Da sapere
- Unicode's own chart notes that the edges of the black square letters "may be slightly rounded", which is why they look like app icons or keys rather than tiles in most fonts.
- The regional indicator letters are drawn as letters in a dotted square in the Unicode chart, but two of them side by side turn into a flag: and become . That is why they are not on this page and why a boxed word typed with them falls apart into flags.
- Several square letters still carry the meaning they had on a German travel map or a Japanese TV guide: is the day of arrival (Anreisetag), a fire station (Feuerwache), a bus stop (Haltestelle) and a museum, according to the Unicode chart.
- The squared kanji include a complete baseball team, pitcher, catcher, first, second and third base, shortstop and the three outfielders, because Japanese broadcasters encoded their scoreboard shorthand.
- The black-square letters became emoji in Unicode 6.0 (2010) only because Japanese phone carriers already had them as blood-type and parking buttons; the twenty-two others next to them, to , are not emoji and never show in colour.
Domande frequenti
8How do I copy and paste square letters?
Tap a letter in the grid to copy it, or copy a ready word from the combos such as or , then paste with Ctrl V, Cmd V or long-press and Paste. They are plain Unicode characters, so they paste into any bio, caption, comment or document.
Are there lowercase square letters?
No. Unicode has 26 white box capitals to and 26 black square capitals to , but no squared lowercase alphabet; the only small letter is , a squared d. A generator that offers lowercase box letters capitalises your text or leaves the small letters plain.
What font is the square letters font?
It is not a font. Each square letter is its own Unicode character in the Enclosed Alphanumeric Supplement block, is U1F130 and is U1F170, and your device draws it with whatever symbol font it has. That is why the letters survive copy and paste where fonts cannot be changed.
How do I type squared letters in Word?
Type the character's code and press Alt X: 1F130 then Alt X gives , 1F170 then Alt X gives , 1F197 then Alt X gives . Windows alt codes with the numeric keypad only reach characters below U10000, so they do not work for these; use Alt X or paste from this page.
Why does show as a red square but does not?
and are emoji, inherited from Japanese phone keyboards where they were blood-type and parking buttons, so phones draw them in colour. The other negative squared letters, to , were added later as plain symbols and always show in black and white in the text colour.
What do the Japanese square emoji mean?
They are shop and ticket signs: here, service charge, free of charge, not free, monthly amount, discount, reserved, prohibited, vacancy, no vacancy, passing grade, application and open for business. The black-and-white squared kanji next to them are TV-listing marks such as subtitled, live and last episode.
What is the difference between and ?
is the squared letter, a black capital inside a thin white square; is the negative squared letter, a white capital on a solid black square. Both are capital A and both are in the same Unicode block; only is also an emoji and may show as a red button.
Do square letters work on Instagram, TikTok and Discord?
Yes in bios, display names, captions, comments and messages. Usernames and handles are the exception: Instagram, TikTok and Discord allow only plain letters, digits, dots and underscores there, so or will be rejected.
