What ‵ means
It is the reverse form of the prime mark. It belongs to the prime family; the surrounding notation determines its role.
A 2007 discussion of an international keyboard on a Unicode email list (Unicode assigns codes to text characters) suggested ‵ as a typographically distinct alternative to the grave accent some writers in Germany used informally at word endings; it called this nonstandard German spelling.
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 ‵
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 2035, then Alt+X to get ‵.
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 “reversed prime”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2035, then Enter or Space.
HTML
‵CSS
\2035how to type backprime
There is no universal keyboard shortcut. In your device or app’s character picker, search for “reversed prime.”
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
‵
HTML hex
‵
CSS content
content: "\2035";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%80%B5
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.