Cross Symbols

Kinds of cross

• ✝ Latin cross: the long-stemmed Christian cross. ✞ adds a shadow and ✟ is an outlined version. See the cross symbol page.
• ☦ Orthodox cross: three bars, with the lowest slanted. It is used by the Russian and other Eastern Orthodox churches.
• ☨ Cross of Lorraine: two horizontal bars. It was the emblem of the Free French in the Second World War and is used by lung health charities. It has its own cross of Lorraine page.
• ☩ Cross of Jerusalem: a large cross with four small ones, the emblem of the medieval Kingdom of Jerusalem.
• ✠ Maltese cross: four arrowhead arms. Unicode names it MALTESE CROSS, and it is associated with the Order of Malta and many fire services.
• ✚ Greek cross: four equal arms, like a plus sign. A red Greek cross is the Red Cross emblem, which is protected under the Geneva Conventions for medical and humanitarian use.

X-shaped crosses

A diagonal cross is a saltire, as on the Scottish flag. ☓ (U+2613) is the saltire character; ✕ and ✖ are multiplication-style X marks used for “close” and “wrong”, and ✗ ✘ are ballot crosses. For marking something as incorrect, the check mark and cross collection has better choices. The multiplication sign × belongs in maths.

The dagger †

The dagger † looks like a cross but is a typographic mark: it points to a footnote, or, after a name, indicates that the person has died. ‡ is the double dagger. Both are covered on the dagger symbol page.

Typing a cross

There is no alt code for ✝. In Word, type 271D and press Alt + X. On a Mac, use the Character Viewer and search “cross”. The dagger has a shortcut: Option + T on a Mac and Alt + 0134 on Windows.