Female Symbol (♀)
The female symbol ♀ is Unicode U+2640, the astronomical and biological symbol representing females and the planet Venus. Press Copy to put it on your clipboard, or type it with Alt + 12 on Windows.
- Unicode
U+2640- HTML
♀- Windows
Alt + 12
How to type the female symbol (♀)
The quickest way is to press Copy above and paste. To type ♀ yourself, use the method for your device below.
Windows
- Hold Alt and type 12 on the numeric keypad. This older code (from code page 437) works in Notepad, Word and most desktop apps.
- In Word or Outlook, type 2640 and press Alt + X. Alt + X converts the hex code before the cursor into the character, and back again.
- Press Win + . to open the emoji panel, then search for “female”.
Mac
- Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for female and double-click it.
- With the Unicode Hex Input keyboard enabled (System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources), hold Option and type 2640.
Linux & ChromeOS
- Press Ctrl + Shift + U, type 2640, then press Enter or Space. Works in GTK and IBus apps (GNOME, Firefox, Chrome, LibreOffice) and on ChromeOS.
iPhone & iPad
- Open the emoji keyboard and search for “female” to insert ♀️, the colour emoji. For the plain text ♀, copy it from this page.
- Copy ♀ from this page, then go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Text Replacement and add it with a shortcut such as ;fema. The shortcut then turns into the symbol as you type, in every app.
Android
- In Gboard, tap the emoji key and search for “female” to insert ♀️. For the plain text ♀, copy it from this page.
- Copy ♀ here, then open Gboard settings → Dictionary → Personal dictionary and add it with a shortcut.
Microsoft Word
- Type 2640, then press Alt + X.
- Insert → Symbol → More Symbols. Set “from” to Unicode (hex), type 2640 in “Character code” and click Insert.
Google Docs
- Insert → Special characters, then search for “female” or draw it in the box.
Excel & Google Sheets
- Enter
=UNICHAR(9792)in a cell. It works in Excel 2013 and later and in Google Sheets.
HTML
- Write
♀or♀in your HTML.
What does ♀ mean?
The female symbol ♀ (Unicode name FEMALE SIGN) depicts a circle perched atop a small downward-pointing cross. In astronomy and astrology it has represented the planet Venus since ancient times. Classical tradition explains the glyph as an abstraction of the hand mirror of Venus (Aphrodite in Greek mythology), the Roman goddess of love and beauty, with the circle forming the reflective polished bronze disc and the cross representing its ornate handle.
In 1751, the Swedish botanist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus introduced ♀ into modern science in his dissertation Plantae Hybridae. Linnaeus used the symbol as shorthand for female plants, pairing it with ♂ for male specimens. Biology, zoology, agriculture, and genetics quickly adopted the notation. In medical genetics pedigrees, circles traditionally denote female family members, but the ♀ glyph is standard in clinical genetic charts, laboratory sample tubes, and demographic documentation.
During the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and 1970s, feminists adopted ♀ as an international emblem of womanhood, equal rights, and solidarity. The symbol frequently appears on campaign banners, healthcare brochures, badges, and literature. In typography, ♀ is encoded as a standard text character that matches your current font and text color. When followed by the emoji variation selector (U+FE0F), phones and social platforms display it as a purple emoji square (♀️).
Common uses
- Biological and genetic records: ♀ wild-type female Drosophila
- Healthcare and demographic forms denoting biological sex
- Feminist campaigns, womanhood advocacy, and equal rights literature
- Astronomy and horoscopes denoting the planet Venus
Female Symbol codes for HTML, CSS and programming
Every code below produces ♀. Use the HTML entity in web pages, the CSS escape in content, and the escape sequence in source code.
| Unicode code point | U+2640 | |
|---|---|---|
| HTML entity (named) | ♀ | |
| HTML decimal | ♀ | |
| HTML hex | ♀ | |
| CSS content | content: "\2640"; | |
| JavaScript | "\u2640" | |
| Python | "\u2640" | |
| Python (by name) | "\N{FEMALE SIGN}" | |
| Java / C# | "\u2640" | |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 99 80 | |
| UTF-16 | 2640 | |
| URL encoded | %E2%99%80 | |
| Alt code (CP437) | Alt + 12 |
♀ vs look-alike characters
These characters look similar to ♀ but have a different meaning and code. Pasting the wrong one can break search, sorting and screen readers.
| Char | Name | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
MaleU+2642 | Male symbol (the shield and spear of Mars), representing males and masculinity. | |
Male with Stroke and Male and FemaleU+26A7 | Transgender symbol, combining male, female, and crossed gender arrows. | |
Doubled FemaleU+26A2 | Doubled female sign, a recognized symbol of lesbian identity and relationships. | |
MercuryU+263F | Mercury symbol, which adds a crescent horn curve atop the circle. |
Symbols similar to ♀
Click to copy, or open a symbol for its codes. See the full planet symbols collection.
♀ character properties
- Official Unicode name
- FEMALE SIGN
- Also known as
- female sign, venus symbol, woman symbol, gender symbol female
- Code point
- U+2640
- Unicode block
- Miscellaneous Symbols (U+2600–U+26FF)
- General category
- Other symbol (So)
- Added in
- Unicode 1.1 (1993)
- Plane
- Basic Multilingual Plane (0)
- Emoji
- Has an emoji form: ♀️ (add U+FE0F)
Frequently asked questions
Why is the female symbol a circle with a cross?
The classical explanation is that it represents the hand mirror of Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty. Historians also trace it to an ancient Greek manuscript abbreviation for the planet Phosphorus (Venus).
Who first used the female symbol in biology?
Carl Linnaeus first used ♀ for female organisms in 1751, borrowing astronomical planet glyphs as convenient shorthand for botanical records.
What is the alt code for the female symbol?
On Windows, hold Alt and type 12 on the numeric keypad to get ♀. On a laptop without a keypad, copy it from this page or use 2640 then Alt + X in Word.
How do I type the female symbol on a Mac?
There is no single Option shortcut for ♀ on the US layout. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, search for “female” and double-click it, or copy it from this page.
What is the HTML code for the female symbol?
Use the named entity ♀ or the numeric reference ♀ (hex ♀). All three display ♀ in every browser.
What is the Unicode for the female symbol?
♀ is U+2640, officially named FEMALE SIGN, in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. It has been part of Unicode since version 1.1 (1993).