Gender Symbols
Copy gender symbols in one click: female ♀, male ♂, transgender ⚧, the combined ⚥, the doubled ⚢ ⚣ ⚤ and neuter ⚲. On Windows, Alt + 12 types ♀ and Alt + 11 types ♂.
Click any symbol to copy it. 26 symbols
Female and male signs
4Transgender and non-binary signs
5Pairs and relationships
6Gender and pride emoji
11Where ♀ and ♂ come from
The female and male signs are the old astronomical symbols for the planets Venus and Mars. ♀ is traditionally read as the hand mirror of Venus and ♂ as the shield and spear of Mars. The botanist Carl Linnaeus used them for female and male plants in the 1750s, and biology, genealogy and medicine have used them ever since. They are also on our pages for the female symbol and male symbol, and on the planet symbols page for their astronomical use.
The transgender symbol ⚧
⚧ (U+26A7) combines the female cross, the male arrow and a third stroked arrow into one circle. The design is credited to the activist Holly Boswell in 1993 and was added to Unicode in 2005 (version 4.1). The emoji version ⚧️ and the transgender flag 🏳️⚧️ followed in 2020. See the transgender symbol page for codes.
Doubled symbols
⚢ (two interlocked female signs) and ⚣ (two male signs) have long been used as lesbian and gay symbols, and ⚤ (interlocked female and male) for heterosexual couples. ⚭ and ⚮ come from genealogy, where they mark marriage and divorce, and ⚯ an unmarried partnership.
How to type ♀ and ♂
On Windows, hold Alt and type 12 for ♀ or 11 for ♂ on the numeric keypad; these codes come from the original IBM PC character set. In HTML the named entities are ♀ and ♂. On a Mac, open the Character Viewer (Control + Command + Space) and search “female” or “male”. Phones show the emoji forms ♀️ ♂️; the text forms above follow your font colour. The newer signs, such as ⚦ and ⚨, are missing from some older fonts, so check them before relying on them. For heart and love symbols to pair with them, see heart symbols.
Frequently asked questions
What is the alt code for the female symbol ♀?
Hold Alt and type 12 on the numeric keypad to get ♀. The male symbol ♂ is Alt + 11.
What does ⚧ mean?
⚧ is the transgender symbol. It combines the female and male signs with a third arrow-and-bar stroke to represent people beyond the gender binary.
What do ⚢ and ⚣ mean?
⚢ (doubled female sign) is used as a lesbian symbol and ⚣ (doubled male sign) as a gay symbol.
Why is ♀ the symbol for female?
It is the ancient symbol of the planet and goddess Venus. Linnaeus adopted it for female organisms in the 18th century, and the usage spread through science.