What 🖉 means
Unicode entry gives you this character; the Wingdings key is font-dependent.
Use an app’s Unicode input with U+1F589 when available. The Wingdings pencil key uses a font-specific mapping, so it may produce a legacy value instead of U+1F589; another font can display that value differently.
Microsoft designed Wingdings in 1990–1991 and released it in 1992 for computer-interface icons, including writing tools. The angle of 🖉 follows that pencil design; its everyday reading is a pencil for writing, editing, or marking text.
Why does 🖉 show as a box?
The active font needs a glyph for this exact character.
A box, question mark, or blank can mean the font cannot draw 🖉. A font with U+1F589 coverage can show its shape; the character itself has not changed.
A 1999 Unicode proposal described 🖉 as a lower-left form of existing pencil signs. Later Unicode references pair it with ✎, a lower-right pencil. They are distinct characters showing the same tool at different angles.
A neutral, tool-like mark for writing, editing, or annotating text.
A font without U+1F589 coverage can leave a blank or box where the mark should be.
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 🖉
🖉\1F589Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.