What ∨ means
It grew out of formal logic in the early 1900s.
Leibniz used a letter-like mark for “or” in a 1679 manuscript, but a 2023 historical study traces today’s sign neither to it nor simply to Latin vel (“or”). Bertrand Russell, working with Alfred North Whitehead in 1902–1903, used related notation to keep “or” between statements apart from union of sets; ∨ first appeared in print for disjunction in 1906.
Don't confuse it with
1Questions 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 2228, 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 “logical or”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2228, then Enter or Space.
HTML
∨CSS
\2228LaTeX
**\lor** or **\vee** in math mode.
HTML
The entity **∨**.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
∨
HTML hex
∨
CSS content
content: "\2228";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%88%A8
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.