What ⪬ means
It means “less than or equal to.” In x ⪬ 4, x may equal 4 or be smaller.
The relation predates this exact glyph: French mathematician Pierre Bouguer used two bars beneath the less-than sign in 1734. Later forms simplified it to one horizontal or slanted equal. The variation selector U+FE00 after ⪬ requests the slanted equal; as of 2026, fonts and apps may not show that distinction.
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 2AAC, 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 “smaller than or equal to”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 2aac, then Enter or Space.
HTML
⪬CSS
\2AACHTML
In HTML, enter ⪬ or ⪬.
LaTeX
Use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX with unicode-math and a math font containing it, such as Asana Math or XITS Math.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
⪬
HTML hex
⪬
CSS content
content: "\2AAC";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E2%AA%AC
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.