What ⑷ means
It marks the fourth item in a numbered sequence.
In a plain-text list or reference, it works like “(4)”.
The history of parenthesized numerals includes typewriter substitutes for circles and use as list markers. Unicode keeps them for compatibility with older East Asian character sets and occasional existing uses; formatted lists can do similar work.
Don't confuse it with
3(4)
④Different font renderings of ⑷ are possible: Unicode 18.0’s chart sample is not prescriptive. Its compatibility equivalent is “(4)”.
Circled Digit Four
Circled four vs parenthesized four: ④ has a circle; ⑷ has parentheses.
Digit Four Full Stop
Parenthesized four vs dotted four: ⑷ has parentheses; ⒋ ends with a full stop.
Questions people ask
1Why does ⑷ 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 ⑷
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2477, then Alt+X to get ⑷.
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 “parenthesized digit four”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2477, then Enter or Space.
HTML
⑷CSS
\2477Character picker
To type parenthesized digit four, search that name in a character picker or enter U+2477 if it supports code-point search.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⑷
HTML hex
⑷
CSS content
content: "\2477";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%91%B7
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.