U25CF

U+25CF, commonly referred to as BLACK CIRCLE, is a Unicode character in the Geometric Shapes block. It represents a filled circle and is categorized as Other Symbol (So). The glyph is used as a generic geometric marker in text, diagrams, charts, maps, and user interfaces; it can also serve as a bullet-like symbol in certain fonts.

Encoding and representation: The code point is U+25CF. In UTF-8, it encodes as the three-byte sequence E2 97 8F. In UTF-16, it is 0x25CF. In HTML, it can be represented as ● or ●.

Usage and rendering: Rendering depends on font and rendering engine. In most fonts, the character appears as a solid black circle with a uniform fill. Some fonts provide alternate circle-like characters with different fills or outlines, such as U+25CB WHITE CIRCLE or U+26AB MEDIUM BLACK CIRCLE, which may not be exact substitutes. The symbol is not an emoji by default, and it may not carry the same color or presentation properties as emoji glyphs.

Accessibility and semantics: As a geometric symbol, U+25CF conveys shape rather than semantic content. When used in content that requires accessibility or machine interpretation, it should be accompanied by textual descriptions or aria-labels to convey meaning to assistive technologies.

See also: related circle or bullet-like symbols, including U+25CB WHITE CIRCLE, U+26AA MEDIUM WHITE CIRCLE, U+26AB MEDIUM BLACK CIRCLE, and the common bullet character U+2022.