What ／ means
It works like a slash; only the width changes.
In the medieval period, the virgula suspensiva marked a slanted pause; doubled, it could mark a paraph, a flourish added to a signature. By the 1520s, printed texts gave that pause-marking job to the comma.
In East Asian text, it takes the same width as a fullwidth character.
What it means when someone sends it to you
2 readingsBetween two options
Separates alternatives; read it as “or.”
Between date parts
Divides a date into fields.
Don't confuse it with
3Questions 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.
How to type ／
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType FF0F, then Alt+X to get ／.
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 “fullwidth solidus”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType ff0f, then Enter or Space.
HTML
／CSS
\FF0FHow to type the fullwidth slash
With a Japanese IME, enter `/` or the middle dot `・`, then select ／ from the conversion candidates.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
／
HTML hex
／
CSS content
content: "\FF0F";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%EF%BC%8F
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.