Variation Selector-238

It only has an effect beside its registered base character. That base is the Han character the mark follows; an ideographic variation sequence joins the base and selector to choose a glyph, or drawing, of the same character. The selector itself does not name a form: the same selector can map to unrelated variants after different bases, so 238 is not a style or language code.

Unicode designed variation selectors for differences in character shapes that plain text cannot easily carry through font choice or text formatting. The supplementary set extends the earlier selectors. The IVD's first collection, Adobe-Japan1, was registered in 2007; later collections recorded other needs, including character-form distinctions in Japanese government administrative records.