What 𒑲 means
It separates phrases in commentary and can mark a zero place in numbers. In commentaries by Assyriologists—scholars of ancient Mesopotamian languages and texts—P3 labels the sign's phrase-separating use.
The broader cuneiform tradition is attested at Uruk around 3500–3200 BCE. It grew from administrative record-keeping and spread across Mesopotamia. In some later cuneiform number texts, the diagonal sign marks zero or an empty place in a base-sixty number—one counted in groups of 60. Commentary points to punctuation; a number points to the zero reading.
𒑲 is P3 in a documented cuneiform punctuation series that also includes P2 (𒑱) and P4 (𒑳). If a font lacks cuneiform glyphs, a box or question mark may appear; that changes the display, not the text character.
Specialist and historical: P3 belongs to Assyriological editions of cuneiform texts.
In number notation, 𒑲 can mark zero; do not read it as an ordinary colon.
Part of the collection
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsP3 punctuation separating phrases in a commentary on a cuneiform text.
Don't confuse it with
3
Questions people ask
1Why does 𒑲 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.
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How to type or find 𒑲
- Also called
- diagonal colon · P3
- Search it as
- cuneiform punctuation · cuneiform zero · zero sign · cuneiform number placeholder
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𒑲\12472\U00012472 in a string literal.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.