Angzarr

The angzarr (⍼) is an obscure typographical symbol with a vague or no confirmed meaning. A typographic source from the 1950s and 1960s refers to it as a mathematical symbol for azimuth,^[1][2], but it was never used in mathematics.

⍼
Angzarr
In Unicode	U+237C ⍼ RIGHT ANGLE WITH DOWNWARDS ZIGZAG ARROW

The symbol gained notoriety in the 2020s when researchers investigated how an unknown symbol became embedded in Unicode's character set, placing it into all modern computer systems. ^[3][4][5]

The name is from an abbreviation of its ISO 9573-13 name, "Angle with Down Zig-zag Arrow",^[6] also reflected in its Unicode name, "Right Angle with Downwards Zigzag Arrow". Its HTML entity reference, originally defined in ISO 9573-13 for use in SGML, is ⍼.^[6] It has been included in Unicode since version 3.2.

History

The earliest usage of the Angzarr is found in a typographic catalog from the 1950s. That catalog described it as being mathematical, but no published usage yet exists. The H. Berthold AG symbol catalogs published described it as indicating "Azimut, Richtungswinkel".^[1][2] Herrman Holmqvist also describes the symbol as Riktningsvinkel (azimuth) in Swedish in a book about symbols published in 1964.^[7][8]

From that apparent beginning, the angzarr was swept up into the Monotype typeset catalog of arrow characters;^[9][10]. The angzarr did not in the 1954 edition,.^[10][11] appeared in the 1963 verson. Monotype listed the symbol as matrix serial number S9576.^[9][10][12] A 1972 Monotype catalog for mathematical characters included the angarr under another serial number (S16139;)^[13][14]), without a reason for the redundant serial number.^[10]

It is unknown why Monotype added the character, or what purpose it was intended to serve,^[15][14].

In 1988, the International Organization for Standardization added the symbol to its Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) definition, apparently pulling it from the Monotype character set.^[16] The STIX Fonts project adopted the Angzarr symbol from the ISO's SGML characters.^[17]

In March 2000, the Angzarr symbol reached wide distribution when the Unicode Technical Committee, in collaboration with the STIX project, proposed adding it to ISO/IEC 10646, the ISO standard with which the Unicode Standard is synchronised. The Angzarr was proposed in the ISO working-group document Proposal for Encoding Additional Mathematical Symbols, although no specific purpose is listed for the symbol.^[18]

The lack of meaning associated with the Angzarr symbol gained notoriety in 2022 when a blog post was published on its unknown origins.^[3][4][5] The blog was updated in 2023, confirming the appearance of Angzarr in a 1972 Monotype typeset catalogue with a scan of the page,^[14][19] and in 2024, confirming its appearance in earlier Monotype catalogues.^[10]

See also

• List of Unicode characters
• Ghost characters – Erroneous kanji
• Arrow (symbol)