What 𝧹 means
It tells the signer to put tension or force into something. SignWriting writes sign languages visually: small symbols for handshapes, movements, contact and facial expressions are grouped into one picture per sign. The Dynamics symbols, this one among them, describe how a movement is performed rather than what it is.
Beside a movement arrow, 𝧹 marks where the motion tightens or stops sharply. With a contact symbol it means pressing, not just touching. With facial symbols it shows a strained face: pressed lips, raised cheeks or squeezed eyes. Its siblings mark fast, slow and relaxed movement.
SignWriting grew from DanceWriting, which Valerie Sutton developed in 1966 to record ballet. In 1974 researchers at the University of Copenhagen asked her to adapt it for signs recorded on video, and Deaf writers later shaped it into a general writing system for sign languages.
Is it just a tilde?
No: it only looks like and is a different character. The keyboard tilde means “approximately” or a soft, playful tone in messages; 𝧹 belongs to the Sutton SignWriting block. Mixing them breaks search and find-and-replace, and many fonts show 𝧹 as an empty box. For a tilde, type the key.
A full SignWriting sign is a two-dimensional arrangement, so this mark in an ordinary line of text loses the hand and movement symbols it belongs with.
Neutral notation inside written sign language, not a chat reaction.
Alone it does not mean “I'm tense”, and it is not a tilde.
Part of the collection
What it means when someone sends it to you
4 readingsThe movement tightens there, sometimes ending in an abrupt stop.
Don't confuse it with
4
Questions people ask
2Why do I see a box instead of the symbol?
Your font has no SignWriting glyphs. A font that covers the Sutton SignWriting block shows it; the character itself is fine.
Who actually uses SignWriting?
Deaf signers, teachers, learners and researchers who want to write sign languages on paper or screen, in a number of countries and for many different sign languages.
More like this
8
How to type or find 𝧹
- Also called
- SignWriting tension mark · tense symbol · wavy line
- Search it as
- SignWriting tension · tension mark · wavy line symbol · tilde-like symbol · SignWriting dynamics · sign language writing · movement tension · SignWriting pressure
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𝧹\1D9F9Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.