Mongolian Free Variation Selector Two

It selects a defined alternate form of the preceding letter.

FVS2 has no visible shape of its own. Placed immediately after an eligible letter in Mongolian or a related script, it tells the text-shaping software—the part that joins and positions letters—to use a specific variant. A pairing that Unicode does not define is ignored.

The instruction belongs to the letter-plus-selector sequence, not to FVS2 by itself.

Why does FVS2 exist?

It records a letterform distinction that neighboring letters cannot settle.

Mongolian letters change shape with their position and surroundings, but context does not determine every written form. FVS2 marks selected variants in Mongolian and related scripts, including Todo, Sibe, Manchu, and Ali Gali; it is not a general styling switch.

The 1998 Mongolian Unicode proposal documents FVS2 as part of digital encoding for the script. The Mongolian script itself dates to the early thirteenth century and developed from Old Uyghur, with older roots in Sogdian.

How do I type Mongolian FVS2?

Put it immediately after the letter that needs the alternate form.

The Mongolfont layout maps FVS2 to capital F; its example enters the Mongolian word bičig (“writing”) as [gF]. That shortcut is specific to this layout. Other setups need their own Mongolian input method or Unicode entry.