Circle Symbols

Circles in Unicode

A circle looks like the simplest shape there is, and Unicode still has well over a hundred circle-based characters. The ones people actually reach for come from the Geometric Shapes block (● ○ ◉ ◎ ◯ ◌ ◍ ◐ and friends), a few from Mathematical Operators (⊙ ⊚ ∘) and Supplemental Mathematical Operators (⦿), and some from the emoji set (⚫ ⚪ ⭕ and the coloured circles). The family you choose affects size, colour and whether it behaves like text.

Solid, hollow and everything between

The core pair is ● (BLACK CIRCLE) and ○ (WHITE CIRCLE), a filled and an outline dot. Between and around them are variants:

• ◉ FISHEYE is a ring with a solid centre, a good radio-button look.
• ◎ BULLSEYE is a ring inside a ring.
• ◯ LARGE CIRCLE is a bigger outline, useful as a placeholder or tick box.
• ◌ DOTTED CIRCLE is drawn with dashes. It has a second life as the base character that combining marks are shown on in documentation, so you will sometimes see it with a stray accent over it.
• ∘ RING OPERATOR is a small ring that sits at mid-height, close to the degree sign. It is not the same character as °, so avoid using one for the other.

The circles that are half or partly filled, ◐ ◑ ◒ ◓, are handy for progress or phase marks. They are often used to show moon phases, and they work as a simple rating scale when a full five-circle row is too long.

The same circle, three sizes

Because circle characters come from different blocks, they do not match in size. ● and ○ are drawn at roughly text height, ◯ is larger, and ⚫ and ⚪ follow emoji sizing. The shapes also sit at different heights relative to the baseline. A row that mixes blocks will look uneven, and this uneven look is the most common complaint with circle art. The fix is to take every circle in a row from the same group and test it in the app where it will display.

Font choice matters too. Some fonts draw ● slightly smaller than ○, and a few draw them at different vertical positions, which shows when you make a rating bar like ●●●○○. If the rating matters, build it with markup or images instead of characters.

Emoji circles and colour

The circles in the third group are emoji. The coloured ones, 🔴 🟠 🟡 🟢 🔵 🟣, were added for colour-coding in plain text, such as status lists or priorities. They draw in colour whatever the text colour is and the exact shade varies by platform. ⚫ and ⚪ are an in-between case. They are emoji, but they are so plain that on many systems they are hard to tell from the geometric ones.

If you need a coloured circle that works on a plain-text page, there is no way to colour a character without styling, so the colour emoji are the only plain-text option. In social media bios they are widely accepted.

Circles as bullets, ratings and decoration

People use circles in three recurring ways:

1. Bullets. ● and • are the usual choices. ◦ is the small white one. See the bullet point symbols page for a full list.
2. Ratings and progress. ●●●○○ patterns and the half circles ◐ ◑. Always include a number for people who cannot see the shapes.
3. Frames. Surrounding a word with ◉ or ⊙ gives a target-like look, popular in game names.

⊙ (CIRCLED DOT OPERATOR) and ⊚ (CIRCLED RING OPERATOR) are mathematical, but they are drawn as neat small targets and are used decoratively. Treat them as shapes and not as operators.

How to type a circle

1. Windows Alt codes. Hold Alt and type 9 on the numeric keypad for ○, 7 for •, or 254 for ■ if you want a square. The older DOS set also gives ◘ with 8.
2. Word. Type 25CF and press Alt then X for ●. Use 25CB for ○, 25C9 for ◉ and 25CE for ◎.
3. Mac. Option+8 types the bullet •. For the rest use the Character Viewer and search circle.
4. Phones. Emoji keyboards have the coloured circles. For geometric ones, use a symbols keyboard or copy from this page.
5. HTML. ● produces ● and ○ produces ○.

Accessibility

Screen readers name each circle, for example “black circle”, “bullseye” or “fisheye”. A rating row of five circles may be read as five separate items, so write the value as text, such as “3 out of 5”. Do not use circles of different colours to carry meaning on their own, because people with colour vision differences or screen readers will miss it. The fancy text accessibility guide explains how assistive tools read special characters.

When a circle shows as a box

A few circle characters, especially ⦿ and ◍, are missing from some fonts. If you see a box, the boxes guide explains how to choose a compatible alternative. Related shapes are on the triangle symbols and diamond symbols pages.