What ⁎ means
⁎ is an asterisk drawn below the usual text position.
Nineteenth-century printing manuals list asterisks as reference marks, including uses in church books and for omissions. That history concerns the asterisk generally; this low form differs by design and placement.
Formal documents use asterisks for source notes; as of 2026, the Australian Government Style Manual flags screen-reader limits.
Part of collections
Don't confuse it with
3
Asterisk
Ordinary asterisk vs. low asterisk: * sits on the text line; ⁎ is lower.
Asterisk Operator
The asterisk operator is the maths form, used for convolution; it sits centred, while ⁎ sits low.
Small Asterisk
Small asterisk is a compatibility form from East Asian encodings that maps to the ordinary *.
Combination ideas
3A low-set three-star section break.
Flags a note with a low star.
A tiny sparkle decoration.
Questions people ask
1Why is the low asterisk missing in my font or browser?
A 2013 browser report recorded inconsistent display. If it appears blank or like a regular asterisk, your font or app may lack a distinct glyph.
More like this
13
Collections with ⁎
3
How to type or find ⁎
- Search it as
- asterisk below · low star · bottom asterisk · footnote asterisk · lower asterisk
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⁎
HTML hex
⁎
CSS content
content: "\204E";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%81%8E
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.