What ३ means
Its value stayed three as its shape changed.
Early Brahmi wrote three by repeating the sign for one. Brahmi numerals appear in inscriptions around the middle of the third century BCE. A Dadhimati-mata inscription from 608 CE shows three bars. Around 1030, the scholar al-Biruni described Arab numerals as selections from Indian forms; their shapes varied, but three kept its value.
A 2024 Indian standards draft specified Latin digits in official Hindi documents.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions people ask
1Can fonts change ३'s shape?
Yes. Font details can vary; the character and its value do not.
How to type ३
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 0969, then Alt+X to get ३.
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 “devanagari digit three”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 0969, then Enter or Space.
HTML
३CSS
\0969Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
३
HTML hex
३
CSS content
content: "\0969";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E0%A5%A9
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.