U+2051 "⁑" Two Asterisks Aligned Vertically Unicode Character

U+2051 "⁑" Two Asterisks Aligned Vertically is a typographic symbol used primarily in editorial and publishing contexts to indicate a break in text, similar to a dinkus or asterism, though it is distinct from the more common horizontal arrangement of asterisks. Its vertical alignment of two asterisks offers a compact visual marker for section divisions or footnotes, and it belongs to the General Punctuation block in Unicode, where it serves as a less frequently used but recognized alternative to other asterisk-based separators. The character is also sometimes employed in mathematical or technical notation to denote special operations or annotations, though its primary function remains decorative or structural in written works.

General Properties

Code Point	U+2051
Version Added	3.2
Name	Two Asterisks Aligned Vertically
Block	General Punctuation
General Category	Other Punctuation
Canonical Combining Class	Not Reordered
Bidirectional Class	Other Neutral

Encodings

HTML Decimal Encoding	⁑
HTML Hex Encoding	⁑
UTF-8 Encoding	0xE2 0x81 0x91
UTF-16 Encoding	0x2051
UTF-32 Encoding	0x00002051
C/C++/Java Escape	\u2051

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
Pattern Syntax	Yes
Vertical Orientation	Upright
Grapheme Base	Yes
Grapheme Cluster Break	Other
Word Break	Other
Sentence Break	Other