Sideways White Down Pointing Index

It marks the item the reader should notice.

Placed before a link or phrase, it guides the eye forward; after a quote, it points back to the words just read. The symbol alone does not label the sender’s mood.

The manicule is a close print parallel: a hand drawn in book margins. As early as the 7th century, Isidore of Seville, a scholar, described the forefinger as a digit used to point something out. Between the 12th and 18th centuries, readers and scribes drew manicules—Latin for “little hands”—in margins to mark passages, corrections, additions, or section changes. The Danish manuscript AM 76 8vo, from the mid-15th century, shows both groups using them. After print, the mark appeared as type, then in advertising and signs. English names include “printer’s fist” and “mutton fist.” 🖟 makes a similar attention-directing gesture.

What does it mean when someone sends 🖟?

Usually, it means “look at this.”

Read it as an attention cue rather than praise or anger. Before a link or quoted line, it marks where to look. Alone in a reply, it gives you a nudge without naming its target.