White chess pawn

A white pawn from a chess set, almost always meant literally.

Each side starts with eight pawns on its second row. A pawn moves one square straight ahead (two on its first move), captures one square diagonally, and if it reaches the far end of the board it is replaced by a queen, rook, bishop or knight. Pawns are the only pieces that never move backwards and the only ones that can turn into something else, which is why so much of chess strategy is about them.

You meet ♙ wherever chess is written down rather than played: diagrams in books and apps, puzzle captions, a club's 'beginners welcome' poster, a heading such as '♙ endings' (endgames where only kings and pawns are left). In the move notation players actually write, pawns get no piece letter (e4, or exd5 for a capture, where the e is the file it came from), so the little figurine belongs to pictures and labels rather than move lists.

The 'white' in the official name describes the drawing, not the ink: like ☆ beside ★, ♙ is usually the hollow version and ♟ the filled one. In black text on a white page that matches the chess colours. In a dark theme the hollow pawn shows the dark background through its middle and can look like a black pawn, while ♟ can appear white.

Does sending ♙ mean 'you are someone's pawn'?

Rarely; the insult usually lives in the word, not the symbol.

In English a pawn is also a person being moved around by someone more powerful and sacrificed when convenient: 'a pawn in their game'. That figure of speech is common, but it is usually carried by the word 'pawn' in a sentence. A ♙ on its own in a chat is most likely chess talk: an invitation to play, a puzzle, a joke about a pawn ending, a chess fan's signature.

When the symbol sits next to words about control, politics or being used, it underlines the metaphor, and then it reads as pointed rather than cruel. If someone sends you a bare ♙ and you do not play, the friendly reply is to ask whether they want a game.