About Asterism
Asterism is the Unicode character ⁂ at codepoint U+2042 in the General Punctuation block of the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP).
Reference
Three asterisks in a triangle, historically used to mark a section break or a deliberate omission. Its code chart entry is bare: a name and nothing else — no alias, no usage note, and not one cross-reference, where its neighbours in the block carry between one and four apiece. Unicode files it as Po in General Punctuation with line-break class AL, and it has neither an HTML named entity nor a Windows-1252 byte. The job it once did is now done by three spaced asterisks on their own line, an ornament, or plain white space.
Typical uses
- Marking a break between sections in a printed book
- Signalling a deliberate omission or a change of scene
- Historic and facsimile typesetting, where the original used one
At a glance
- U+2042, General Punctuation; Unicode 1.1 (1993); general category Po
- East Asian Width Neutral; line break class AL
- No HTML named entity and no Windows-1252 slot
- The chart entry carries no alias, no annotation and no cross-reference
Historical Notes
Unicode
Unicode 1.1, released in 1993, in General Punctuation. The entry's emptiness is worth stating plainly, because the standard is usually more forthcoming: the pilcrow carries an alias, a usage note and three cross-references, the dagger three aliases and a cross-reference, the per mille sign two aliases, a usage note and two cross-references. This character has a name.
What that silence implies, and does not
An empty entry is not evidence that Unicode considered the character unimportant. Annotations were added where a committee thought a reader needed help distinguishing or applying a mark, and their absence can equally mean the name was thought sufficient. It is a fact about the record rather than about the mark, and this note does not stretch it further.
Developer Notes
| Unicode Codepoint | |
| Decimal | |
| UTF-8 (hex) | |
| UTF-16 (hex) | |
| HEX Entity | |
| HTML Entity | |
| CSS (\xxxx) | |
| JavaScript | |
| Python |
How to Use Asterism
To use the Asterism symbol (⁂) in HTML, insert the
entity ⁂ directly into your markup. The decimal entity ⁂ works in any HTML-serialised document.
In CSS pseudo-elements use content: '\2042';.
In JavaScript and TypeScript the escape '\u2042' evaluates to ⁂. In Python source, write '\u2042'.
The character encodes to E2 81 82 as UTF-8 bytes and 2042 as UTF-16 code units. Its decimal codepoint is 8258.
This is a text-based Unicode character. It will render in the current font on most platforms. If a font lacks this glyph, the browser may show a placeholder or fall back to a system font.
Things to know
- No named HTML entity. Write ⁂ or ⁂.
- No Windows-1252 slot, so it does not survive legacy pipelines.
- Line break class AL, so it is treated as ordinary alphabetic material for breaking purposes rather than as punctuation that clings to a neighbour.
- East Asian Width Neutral — one terminal cell everywhere.
- Font coverage is worth testing. The character is rare enough that a face can omit it without anyone noticing until it is used.
In the Wild
On 5 August 2026, English Wikipedia's article about the character showed it four times, the Japanese Wikipedia article about punctuation three times, and the Japanese article about the exclamation mark once.
Every one is a specimen — the character displayed as an example, never used to break a section. Pages change; this is what those showed on the day.
FAQ
Is an asterism the same as a dinkus?
No. A dinkus is the section-break device in general, usually three spaced asterisks; the asterism is one specific character that has served as one.
Why does its Unicode entry say so little?
It carries a name and nothing else — no alias, no note, no cross-reference. That is unusual in this block, though it is not in itself evidence of anything about the mark.
Is there an HTML entity?
No named one. Use ⁂ or ⁂.
What replaced it?
Three spaced asterisks on their own line, a small ornament, or extra white space.