White Down-Pointing Left-Hand Index

It tells you to look at a nearby target.

Beside a link, heading, label, or quoted line, 🖗 acts as a visual “look here” marker. The same kind of small pointing hand is called a manicule in typography.

On its own, it names no target and carries no fixed emotion; use the surrounding exchange to tell whether the gesture feels helpful or abrupt.

What is a manicule, and where did the pointing hand come from?

A manicule is a small hand drawn in a page margin to flag a passage. Historical accounts trace pointing-hand marks to at least the twelfth century and report heavier use in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian books.

Scribes and readers used them to mark passages, section openings, or text to revisit. Printers later set pointing hands as type, and advertisements and signs used them to direct attention to an item or instruction.