What 𒐛 means
Seven GEŠ₂ units; in discrete counting, that is 420.
GEŠ₂ names the unit, not a decorative label. In the discrete-counting system, one GEŠ₂ is sixty, so 𒐛 is seven groups of sixty: 7 60 420. The sign-list notation for this form is 7(geš₂).
Do not carry 420 into every context. Cuneiform numerals appeared in metrological systems—ways of counting goods, measures, or areas—and later in place-value notation, where position changes magnitude. Read it first as seven GEŠ₂ units, then use the system and position to work out the amount.
Its value depends on the counting system
The sign belongs to a long-lived accounting tradition. Numerical writing appears in proto-cuneiform, the earliest accounting form of cuneiform, by the end of the fourth millennium BCE. It tracked quantities within concrete systems for goods and measures. By the end of the third millennium BCE, base-60 (sexagesimal) place-value notation supported abstract numbers and calculation across those systems.
The GEŠ₂ series connects this numeral with traditions that began in Sumer and continued in Babylonia. Scribes used base-60 calculation in mathematical and astronomical texts, extending a system that had grown from concrete accounting toward abstract computation.
A specialist numeral from historical cuneiform writing; it belongs in cuneiform-related text, not ordinary modern-number prose.
Do not read it as modern 7 alone: GEŠ₂ names the unit, and the numeral counts seven of them.
Part of the collection
Who writes 𒐛
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What it means when someone sends it to you
3 readingsA cuneiform numeral; the notation and intended amount are not shown.
Don't confuse it with
2
Related characters
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Questions people ask
1Why does 𒐛 look different in different fonts?
It can. The Unicode Standard 17.0.0 treats 𒐛 as one abstract sign, while fonts may draw it in different historical styles.
More like this
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How to type or find 𒐛
- Also called
- 7(GEŠ₂) · 7(geš₂) · 7(ŋeš₂)
- Search it as
- 7 gesh2 · 7 geš2 · cuneiform number · 420 · sexagesimal numeral · Sumerian Babylonian · seven wedges · cuneiform four hundred twenty · seven gesh · downward wedges
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𒐛\1241BWhy is 𒐛 a box on my screen?
fsymbols draws rare signs with its own fonts, so they show here even where your device has none. An app or website without such a font shows an empty box (□) or a question mark instead. Turn our fonts off to see each sign as your device draws it by itself: a box here means a box in your chats and documents too.
Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.