What ⯿ means
They helped operators match the machine's motor speed. While held, the key sent the mark at a reduced rate and stayed latched until another key was pressed.
A German Feldfernschreiber manual dated 1941 documents the key. The machine printed messages on paper tape; the mark was distinct from message letters.
Specialist equipment notation: the pause means holding a telegraph connection, not pausing a sentence.
Don't confuse it with
4Questions 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 2BFF, 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 “hellschreiber pause symbol”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2bff, then Enter or Space.
HTML
⯿CSS
\2BFFCodes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⯿
HTML hex
⯿
CSS content
content: "\2BFF";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%AF%BF
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.