What ௯ means
It carries the value nine.
Traditional Tamil notation pairs digits with separate signs for ten, hundred, and thousand. Kaṇakkatikāram calculation texts date to around the sixteenth century; Eṇcuvaṭi number tables date to the eighteenth century or earlier.
The first appearance of ௯'s exact outline is unclear as of 2026. Numerals in Brahmi, an older script, and pottery numerals at the archaeological site of Azhakankulam attest to an older Tamil-region number tradition, not this shape's date.
Don't confuse it with
4Combination ideas
219 in traditional Tamil notation
90,000 in traditional Tamil notation
Questions people ask
1Why does ௯ show as a box?
A box means the current font lacks this Tamil glyph. A Tamil-capable font can display its outline; the value remains nine.
How to type ௯
Windows (Word)
Alt+XType 0BEF, then Alt+X to get ௯.
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 “tamil digit nine”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType 0bef, then Enter or Space.
HTML
௯CSS
\0BEFCodes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
௯
HTML hex
௯
CSS content
content: "\0BEF";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%E0%AF%AF
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.