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󠇦

variation selector-247

Variation Selector-247

Variation Selector-247 is an invisible mark placed after a CJK ideograph to request a specific glyph form — the letter stays, the shape may change. Fonts honor it only inside a registered ideographic variation sequence (IVS). The surprise: as of 2026-08-03, Unicode's IVD file registers no sequence using VS-247, so it is not the North Korean glyph switch it was once proposed as.

Text symbol

Also called: VS247 · VS-247 · U+E01E6
Search it as: e01e6 · ivs · ivd · ideographic variation selector · invisible character · cjk variation selector · glyph variant
Shows up in: Anything that takes text · its shape is whatever your font draws

What 󠇦 means

It asks for a different glyph shape, never a different meaning. Placed right after a CJK ideograph, it tells a supporting font which documented form to draw in an ideographic variation sequence (IVS). It has no sound and no word of its own.

The supplementary selectors were built for plain text, where font choice and regional labels cannot be trusted to travel. A 2000 Unicode proposal described the range as zero-width selectors; it entered the standard in 2003. Registered IVD collections cover Japanese font inventories and government character records; a 2016-03-10 PanCJKV proposal gave VS-247 a North Korean (DPRK) slot — a collection design, not a meaning.

Why is VS-247 invisible?

It is an attachment, not a standalone character. With a registered base it can swap the ideograph's shape; anywhere else it draws nothing. If the pairing is unregistered or the font lacks support, the base keeps its usual glyph and the selector hides.

Technical machinery, not a message symbol — it belongs in font and encoding work.

Do not append it at random: an unregistered or unsupported pair quietly leaves the base glyph unchanged.

What it means when someone sends it to you

3 readings

Right after a CJK ideograph

Requests the documented glyph form — if the pairing is registered and the font supports it.

Alone or after an unrelated character

Draws nothing, changes nothing — invisible filler in the text.

Stacked after another variation selector

Sequences pair one base with one selector; the extra draws nothing.

Don't confuse it with

️

Variation Selector-16 (U+FE0F) is the emoji-presentation selector from the basic block — same job, but for emoji.

Zero-width space (U+200B) is also invisible, but inserts a line-break point instead of choosing a glyph.

Worth knowing

Its home is Unicode's plane 14, the Supplementary Special-purpose Plane — shared only with the deprecated, equally invisible tag characters.

Questions people ask

I found a hidden character in pasted text — could it be VS-247?

Possibly. It's invisible by design, so only a character inspector reveals it as U+E01E6 after a base; deleting it leaves the visible text identical.

How to type 󠇦

Windows (Word)

Alt+XType E01E6, 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-247”.

Linux

Ctrl+Shift+UType e01e6, then Enter or Space.

HTML

󠇦

CSS

\E01E6

Code-point input

In Word or LibreOffice, type E01E6 then Alt+X; on Linux, Ctrl+Shift+U, e01e6, Enter.

Placement

It must sit right after the ideograph it modifies — it attaches to the character before it.

HTML

󠇦 writes it literally inside markup or data.

Codes and encoding1 code points

HTML decimal

󠇦

HTML hex

󠇦

CSS content

content: "\E01E6";

Each escape is closed by the next backslash; a trailing space is needed before a literal hex digit.

URL encoded

%F3%A0%87%A6

On screen

Code points

JS .length

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

Accents & marks659 symbols

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