Combining Number Sign Above

Its reading depends on the transcription system.

J. P. Harrington, a linguist who recorded Indigenous languages, used this mark in field notes from the first half of the twentieth century. The Unicode proposal for the mark described it as strong stress—extra force on a sound—or intonation, the voice’s rise and fall.

In 2023, a reassessment instead read Harrington’s sign as a musical sharp for high pitch, paired with a flat for low pitch, and proposed separate marks for those pitches. The notation key decides which reading applies.

Why does ᫆ look like a tiny #?

It resembles a superscript number sign and is meant to attach above a base.

Octothorp is another name for #. Because ᫆ is a combining mark, it follows a base character in text and the font places it above that character. A 2020 Unicode proposal records that missing font support led to a spacing # or omission from a dictionary of Purisimeño, a Chumash language, losing the intended above-letter distinction.

Can I use ᫆ in an ordinary message?

Use it when the transcription system calls for it.

Besides Harrington’s language records, a 2012 proposal for Stokoe-style notation of Italian Sign Language suggests a possible closed-handshape mark. In that system, a handshape is the form made by the hand.