SignWriting Flat Hand, Thumb Forward

It marks a flat hand with the thumb pointing forward.

In SignWriting, a writing system for sign languages, handshape symbols are building blocks. 𝡠 identifies one physical hand configuration; it does not translate to one word.

Read it with the rest of the sign. Movement, contact, location, palm orientation, and facial or body symbols help show what a complete sign records, so 𝡠 alone cannot tell you which sign-language word was intended.

Why was SignWriting created?

It began as a way to record signed movement.

The documented early development began in Denmark in 1974, when the University of Copenhagen asked Valerie Sutton to record signs and gestures from video. The system grew from her earlier DanceWriting, a way to record choreography, and then developed into writing Danish Sign Language and other sign languages.

Because SignWriting symbols describe physical forms rather than meanings in one spoken language, the same handshape inventory can serve different sign languages. Danish Sign Language was the first sign language written in the system, but 𝡠 is not specific to it.

Why does 𝡠 need other symbols?

It names a component, while SignWriting lays out the whole sign.

Unicode encodes individual SignWriting symbols, but a complete sign depends on their two-dimensional placement. A font can draw 𝡠 correctly while plain text still leaves out that layout.

Some SignWriting software uses Formal SignWriting in ASCII (FSW) or SignWriting in Unicode (SWU) as its working format. Use a SignWriting-aware tool when you need to change representations.