What ‴ means
It marks a finer angular division or a traditional watchmaking unit.
In angular notation, the prime family uses ′ for an arcminute, ″ for an arcsecond, and ‴ for a “third”: 1/60 of an arcsecond. An arcsecond is 1/60 of an arcminute, which is 1/60 of a degree, so each extra prime divides the angle by 60.
Older astronomical texts used this third step for finer angles; decimal subdivisions are the usual modern alternative. Watchmakers use ‴ after a number for a ligne, a traditional small unit used to size watch movements.
Part of the collection
Don't confuse it with
3''' Three apostrophes are separate characters; ‴ is one prime mark. In a technical measurement, substituting one for the other can change the notation.
′′′ Three separate primes typed in a row; ‴ is one character that keeps the strokes evenly spaced.
Related characters
4
Combination ideas
3Questions 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
13
Collections with ‴
1
How to type or find ‴
- Search it as
- prime symbol · thirds symbol · arcsecond thirds · watchmaking ligne symbol · three apostrophe symbol
- Shows up in
- Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws
‴\2034Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.