Manichaean Punctuation Two Dots

𐫵 brackets a Manichaean headline or caption. Scribes used the two-dot mark to frame a title, not to pause a sentence. As of 2026, a font without Manichaean coverage may show a box or blank.

Text symbol

What 𐫵 means

It marks the edges of a title-like passage. The vertical dots frame a headline or caption so readers can spot the page’s structure at a glance.

The Manichaean script developed from writing used for Palmyrene Aramaic, an ancient Near Eastern language. Mani’s religious community used it in the 3rd century CE. In the 8th century, translations carried it into Old Uyghur, an older Turkic language; manuscript studies find related punctuation forms and functions in Iranian and Uyghur texts.

Part of the collection

𐬀

Avestan, Pahlavi & Sogdian Scripts

Don't confuse it with

Colon

Colon vs 𐫵: both use two vertically stacked dots; 𐫵 frames a manuscript heading or caption.

Questions people ask

Why does 𐫵 show as a box on some devices?

Not every system ships a font for the Manichaean block. Where none is installed, the character shows as an empty box; adding a font such as Noto fixes it. The character itself is still correct and copies correctly.