Check mark

"Tick mark" redirects here. For markings on a graduated scale, see Graduation (scale).
"✓" redirects here. For the similar symbol √, see Radical symbol.
For the diacritic "ˇ", see Caron.
✓
Check mark
U+2713 ✓ CHECK MARK (✓, ✓)
✔ ☑ ✅︎
heavy check mark ballot box with check white heavy check mark

The check or check mark (American English), checkmark (Philippine English), tickmark (Indian English) or tick (Australian, New Zealand and British English)[citation needed] is a mark (✓, ✔, etc.) used in many countries, including the English-speaking world, to indicate the concept "yes" (e.g. "yes; this has been verified", "yes; that is the correct answer", "yes; this has been completed", or "yes; this [item or option] applies").

The x mark is also sometimes used for this purpose (most notably on election ballot papers, e.g. in the United Kingdom), but otherwise usually indicates "no", incorrectness, or failure. One of the earliest usages of a check mark as an indication of completion is on ancient Babylonian tablets "where small indentations were sometimes made with a stylus, usually placed at the left of a worker's name, presumably to indicate whether the listed ration has been issued."[1]

As a verb, to check (off) means to add such a mark. Printed forms, printed documents, and computer software (see checkbox) commonly include squares in which to place check marks.

International differences

The check mark is a predominant affirmative symbol of convenience in the English-speaking world because of its instant and simple composition. In other language communities, there may be different conventions.

It is common in Swedish schools for a ✓ to indicate that an answer is incorrect,[2][3][4] while "R", from the Swedish rätt, i.e., "correct", is used to indicate that an answer is correct.

In Finnish, ✓ stands for väärin, i.e., "wrong", due to its similarity to a slanted v.[citation needed] The opposite, "correct", is marked with , a slanted vertical line emphasized with two dots[5] (see also commercial minus sign).

In Japan, the O mark is used instead of the check mark, and the X or ✓ mark are commonly used for wrong.[6]

In the Netherlands (and former Dutch colonies) the flourish of approval (or krul) is used for approving a section or sum.

In German-speaking countries, ✓ is used for “correct” or “done”, but not usually for ticking boxes, which are crossed instead. The opposite of ✓ is ƒ (short for falsch “wrong”).

Unicode

Unicode provides various check marks, the one called CHECK MARK is in the U+27xx Dingbats block:

Symbol Code point Name
⍻ U+237B NOT CHECK MARK
☐ U+2610 BALLOT BOX
☑ U+2611 BALLOT BOX WITH CHECK
✅ U+2705 WHITE HEAVY CHECK MARK
✓ U+2713 CHECK MARK
✔ U+2714 HEAVY CHECK MARK
𐄂 U+10102 AEGEAN CHECK MARK
𝤿 U+1D93F SIGNWRITING MOVEMENT-WALLPLANE CHECK SMALL
𝥀 U+1D940 SIGNWRITING MOVEMENT-WALLPLANE CHECK MEDIUM
𝥁 U+1D941 SIGNWRITING MOVEMENT-WALLPLANE CHECK LARGE
🗸 U+1F5F8 LIGHT CHECK MARK
🗹 U+1F5F9 BALLOT BOX WITH BOLD CHECK
🮱 U+1FBB1 INVERSE CHECK MARK

Keyboard entry

The heavy check mark ✔ is available in the fonts Marlett and Webdings. On the QWERTY keyboard, it can be produced by striking lower-case a with one of these fonts in effect.

See also

References

  1. ^ Tenney, Jonathan S. (2011-07-12). Life at the Bottom of Babylonian Society. Brill. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004206892.i-268. ISBN 978-90-04-20704-2.
  2. ^ "bock". Svensk ordbok utgiven av Svenska Akademien (in Swedish). Swedish Academy.
  3. ^ "bock". Svenska Akademiens ordlista (in Swedish). Swedish Academy.
  4. ^ "bock". Svenska Akademiens ordbok (in Swedish). Vol. 5. Swedish Academy. 1917.
  5. ^ Version 3.2 of the Unicode Standard, General Punctuation 2002-03-27
  6. ^ "Internationalization". W3.org. W3C. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 2024-11-26.
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