Variation Selector-79

It can request a specific glyph shape for the character before it.

Unicode invented variation selectors for plain text that needs one exact letterform without minting a new character per shape: the base keeps the identity, the selector requests a registered form. This supplementary range exists mainly so CJK ideographs can pin down variants through the Ideographic Variation Database (IVD).

That history is purely technical — a mechanism designed for computers in 2003, not a sign inherited from older writing.

Why is Variation Selector-79 invisible?

Because it has no glyph of its own.

Selectors are default-ignorable: when the pair is registered and supported, software swaps the preceding character's glyph; otherwise it shows the base as if the selector were absent. VS79 itself is never drawn.

It also cannot restyle text — attaching it to letters changes no colour, weight or decoration, only ever a single glyph form.

How do I type Variation Selector-79?

Enter U+E013E after its base with a Unicode-aware method.

Because it sits in the supplementary plane, four-digit hex input misses it; use a method that accepts the full code, then place it after the intended base and judge the pair — the selector alone only ever shows nothing.

Honest warning: the Ideographic Variation Database release dated 2026-08-03 registers no sequence for VS79, so no base officially answers it. An unregistered pair is still valid text — it just changes nothing visible.