What ⓹ means
It marks five inside a double ring. A 1999 Japanese standards proposal describes double-circled digits one through eight as markers for tooth positions in dental notation.
The same proposal describes enclosed numbers as general-purpose markers in publications and newspapers. In a numbered list, ⓹ reads as item five; its second ring adds visual emphasis, not a new value.
Single-circled, parenthesized, and period-enclosed numerals are other list styles. The enclosure is part of the style a writer chooses.
Why does ⓹ look different?
A font may omit or redraw its two rings. Fonts control the visible shape of ⓹. A font without this character may show an empty box or a replacement drawn by another font.
For machine-checked values, plain 5 with formatting is more reliable than relying on this enclosed character.
A deliberately styled number, suited to marked lists and charts.
The extra rings emphasize five; they do not change its numerical value.
Part of the collection
What it means when someone sends it to you
3 readingsItem five, given extra visual weight by the double ring.
Don't confuse it with
3
Related characters
2
Questions people ask
1Why does ⓹ 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.
More like this
10
Collections with ⓹
1
How to type or find ⓹
- Search it as
- double-circled five · double-circled 5 · double-ring 5 · tooth chart 5 · enclosed number five · U+24F9
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
⓹\24F9⓹ or the decimal form ⓹.\u24F9 in a Java or Python string.Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.