U+2189 "↉" Vulgar Fraction Zero Thirds Unicode Character
U+2189 "↉" Vulgar Fraction Zero Thirds is a specialized typographic symbol included in the Number Forms block to represent the rational value of zero, specifically expressed as zero divided by three. It was encoded to provide a consistent digital representation for fractions used in older or stylized numeration systems, such as those found on clock faces, financial documents, or historical manuscripts, where showing a zero numerator over a denominator was occasionally necessary for alignment or notation. Unlike common fractions like ½ or ⅓, this character is rarely used in standard arithmetic writing, as the value zero is more simply represented by the digit 0, but its inclusion ensures that the full set of proportional fraction symbols can be composed when required.
General Properties
| Code Point | U+2189 |
| Version Added | 5.2 |
| Name | Vulgar Fraction Zero Thirds |
| Block | Number Forms |
| General Category | Other Number |
| Canonical Combining Class | Not Reordered |
| Bidirectional Class | Other Neutral |
| Decomposition Type | Fraction |
| Decomposition Mapping | "0" U+0030 Digit Zero "⁄" U+2044 Fraction Slash "3" U+0033 Digit Three |
Encodings
| HTML Decimal Encoding | ↉ |
| HTML Hex Encoding | ↉ |
| UTF-8 Encoding | 0xE2 0x86 0x89 |
| UTF-16 Encoding | 0x2189 |
| UTF-32 Encoding | 0x00002189 |
| C/C++/Java Escape | \u2189 |