What 𝡿 means
𝡿 is one handshape, not a complete sign.
In Sutton SignWriting, a system for writing sign languages, handshapes appear alongside symbols for movement, orientation, location, contact, and parts of the face or body. The two-dimensional layout shows how those pieces form a sign, so the meaning of 𝡿 depends on its place in the full arrangement.
On its own, it names an open hinge handshape with the thumb at the side. It does not name a spoken word or one universal sign across languages.
Why was SignWriting created?
It grew from a way to write movement.
Valerie Sutton began a personal dance-notation system in 1966. The SignWriting branch began in Copenhagen in 1974, during a research project comparing gestures by hearing people with signing by Deaf people in Danish Sign Language.
SignWriting later grew into a system for writing many sign languages. This history helps explain why 𝡿 is reusable notation: the handshape contributes to a sign, but does not carry one fixed meaning across languages.
A specialist notation glyph for handshape in written sign languages.
Alone, it identifies a handshape, not a signed message or a complete sign.
Part of the collection
What it means when someone sends it to you
3 readingsA handshape label; this alone does not identify a complete written sign.
Related characters
4
Questions 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.
More like this
10
How to type or find 𝡿
- Search it as
- signwriting · sutton signwriting · handshape · hinge hand · open hinge · thumb side · swu · fsw
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
𝡿\1D87FCodes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.