U+1F74E "🝎" Alchemical Symbol for Caput Mortuum Unicode Character

U+1F74E "🝎" Alchemical Symbol for Caput Mortuum is a specialized glyph from the Alchemical Symbols block, representing a concept central to alchemical philosophy. In alchemy, "caput mortuum" (Latin for "dead head") refers to the worthless residue left after a substance has undergone distillation or sublimation, often seen as the final, inert byproduct of a process. This symbol, visually depicted as a small cross or asterisk-like figure above a circle, was used in historical manuscripts to denote this useless or "dead" matter, embodying the alchemical cycle of purification, decomposition, and transformation. Today, the character serves as a niche but evocative link to the symbolic language of early chemistry and mystical traditions.

General Properties

Code Point	U+1F74E
Version Added	6.0
Name	Alchemical Symbol for Caput Mortuum
Block	Alchemical Symbols
General Category	Other Symbol
Canonical Combining Class	Not Reordered
Bidirectional Class	Other Neutral

Encodings

HTML Decimal Encoding	🝎
HTML Hex Encoding	🝎
UTF-8 Encoding	0xF0 0x9F 0x9D 0x8E
UTF-16 Encoding	0xD83D 0xDF4E
UTF-32 Encoding	0x0001F74E
C/C++/Java Escape	\ud83d\udf4e

Unicode Properties

NFC Quick Check	Yes
NFD Quick Check	Yes
NFKC Quick Check	Yes
NFKD Quick Check	Yes
Numeric Type	None
Numeric Value	NaN
Line Break	Alphabetic
Script	Common
Script Extensions	Common
Indic Syllabic Category	Other
Vertical Orientation	Upright
Grapheme Base	Yes
Grapheme Cluster Break	Other
Word Break	Other
Sentence Break	Other