U+05AF "֯" Hebrew Mark Masora Circle Unicode Character
Unicode Version 17.0
֯
U+05AF "֯" Hebrew Mark Masora Circle is a diacritical mark used in the Hebrew Masoretic Text, a critical edition of the Hebrew Bible. Its primary function is to indicate a notable textual or orthographic variant noted in the Masora, the body of annotations and cross-references that preserve the precise reading and writing of the biblical text. Visually, it appears as a small circle placed above a consonant, signaling that the scribes or Masoretes have recorded a specific detail about that letter, such as an unusual spelling or a correction. This mark is an integral part of the intricate system of Masoretic notation, ensuring the faithful transmission of the Hebrew scriptures across generations.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+05AF |
| Version Added | 2.0 |
| Name | Hebrew Mark Masora Circle |
| Block | Hebrew |
| General Category | Nonspacing Mark |
| Canonical Combining Class | Above |
| Bidirectional Class | Nonspacing Mark |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ֯ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ֯ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xD6 0xAF |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x05AF |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x000005AF |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u05af |