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󠄁

variation selector-18

Variation Selector-18

VS18 is an invisible selector that asks for a registered alternate glyph—the drawn form—of the character immediately before it. In an ideographic variation sequence (IVS), it can preserve a specific form in a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean character, such as one used in a name or older publication. Alone or after an unsupported base, it stays invisible and the base looks unchanged.

Text symbol
Also called
VS18
Search it as
IVS · ideographic variation sequence · CJK glyph variant · kanji glyph variant · JIS variant · invisible selector · font variation
Shows up in
Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What 󠄁 means

It requests a registered alternate form of the preceding character.

To use VS18 after a character, place it immediately after the base. An ideographic variation sequence (IVS) pairs a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean ideograph with a registered selector. VS18 has no fixed effect by itself: the same selector can request different glyphs—the drawn forms—after different characters, so it is not a general font-style switch.

Why preserve a particular glyph?

The written form can matter even when the character stays the same.

An IVS can preserve a chosen form in a Japanese name, place name, or older book. A Unicode proposal in 2004 described these uses and the need for plain-text records to carry the chosen form. The Ideographic Variation Database (IVD), a registry of these sequences, records base-plus-selector pairs for specific glyph collections. This lets plain text request a variant without assigning every form a separate character.

Why does VS18 look blank?

A selector has no visible glyph on its own.

A font that supports the registered pair may draw its requested variant. If the pair is unregistered or unsupported, the base usually appears as normal and VS18 stays invisible; font support therefore determines whether the variant appears. An OpenType Format 14 table lists the variation sequences a font supports. Do not add VS18 as a styling trick: an unregistered pair is not a defined text-interchange sequence.

Technical and invisible: it requests a precise ideographic form, not emphasis or emotion.

A lone VS18 is invisible; use it only in a registered base-plus-selector sequence.

What it means when someone sends it to you

3 readings
After a registered CJK base
A supporting font may draw the registered glyph variant for that character.
After an unregistered base
The base appears as usual; VS18 adds no visible effect.
Alone in a message
It has no standalone glyph, so ordinary rendering shows nothing.

Don't confuse it with

3
️
VS18 vs VS16: VS16 requests emoji or text presentation for supported bases; VS18 requests an ideographic glyph variant.
‍
A joiner combines neighboring characters into a sequence; it does not request an alternate glyph for one base character.
󠄀
Variation Selector-17
VS17 is the adjacent selector; its effect also depends on the base, so it cannot substitute for VS18.

Combination ideas

2
A Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS) example uses this pair to request a later glyph variant of 芦.
The Adobe-Japan1 collection uses this pair to preserve an older printed form of 暗.

Questions people ask

2

Can a variation selector make text bold or italics?

No. It requests a character's glyph variant; it does not apply a style across a span of text.

Can I delete hidden selector text?

It may change the drawn form, not the base character. If the pair is supported, deleting VS18 removes the exact-variant request; if it is unsupported, the display may stay the same.

How to type 󠄁

Windows (Word)
Alt+XType E0101, 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 “variation selector-18”.
Linux
Ctrl+Shift+UType e0101, then Enter or Space.
HTML
󠄁
CSS
\E0101
CJK input method (IME)
Some Chinese, Japanese, and Korean input methods offer a base-plus-variant entry; choose that candidate when the exact glyph form matters.
Codes and encoding1 code points
HTML decimal
󠄁
HTML hex
󠄁
CSS content
content: "\E0101";
Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.
URL encoded
%F3%A0%84%81
1
On screen
1
Code points
2
JS .length
4
UTF-8 bytes

A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.

Families this belongs to

1

Accents & marks659 symbols

^`¨¯´¸ʰʱʲʳʴʵ