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Symbols with documented historical use.
All 874symbols recorded in this context, A–Z.
A script commissioned for an empire.
A raised open palm facing outward, fingers up — the gesture of fearlessness.
Letters standing for numbers.
A capital M giving intrinsic brightness.
Cast lettering and a load class on a manhole or inspection cover.
Gemstones set in order so that their initials spell a word.
A script invented by two teenagers.
A script that outlived its language.
A braided cord over the shoulder.
A blue label reading PAR AVION, marking an item for carriage by air.
The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, used together.
Geometric marks on skin.
A looping mark meaning 'and', developed from a ligature of the Latin 'et'.
Pictures for a language that also had cuneiform.
An anchor on a decoration or badge, marking naval service.
An anchor carved on a monument.
A winged human figure carved as a monument or in relief.
A mark closing a passage.
Text the editor adds because the ancient writer left it out.
An ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic sign shaped like a cross with a looped top, signifying life.
A plain ring marking a fifth son.
A horizontal stroke below the syllable.
A two-faced nasal mark.
An anvil with a hammer, marking a smith.
A crossed loop for a weight.
A weight below the dram.
A pointer to a note below.
A divider between hemistichs.
A mark opening a line of verse.
One character meaning 'year'.
The hand the Hebrew Bible is written in.
A half nasal, mostly historic.
One ring instead of two.
A wheel of curving rays.
A dated mark applied at the office of delivery.
A town struck into metal.
In scholarship, a form nobody attested — reconstructed, not recorded.
A star marking a line as genuine.
A name and a date after a species.
The solar term at 180° of solar longitude.
A script built to record sound exactly.
The solar term at 345° of solar longitude.
A flag for twenty, a feather for eight thousand.
A vast carved disc with a central face ringed by glyphs.
A record of points, doubles and gammons in a match.
Numbered points from 1 to 24, counted in opposite directions for each player.
A continuous line of stitches worked backwards.
Eight three-line trigrams arranged around a centre, in one of two standard orders.
A star of nine points.
Three lines and two stars.
A bamboo stem on a numbered bonus tile.
A king's script that became a syllabary.
A wavy line or a small basin before a date, marking a baptism.
A circlet with six silver balls, four shown.
Numbers for fielding positions and letters for outcomes.
A plain weave with threads grouped in pairs.
A script recovered from the diaspora.
A script for the ritual specialist.
A Philippine script with a modern revival.
A colonial fix for a real defect.
One bit, sent a hundred miles.
A pattern of strokes carrying news.
A name cast into bronze.
Fractions of a rupee as glyphs.
A counting unit of four.
An invocation opening a document.
A hexagon with an inscribed circle, representing delocalised aromatic bonding.
A gold roundel, named for a coin.
A grainline set at forty-five degrees to the weave.
A doubled section of rope without a crossing.
A small upright rectangle borne as a charge.
Two runes sharing a stroke.
Incised figures aiding a recitation.
A star before a date meaning the person was born then.
A capital B with two vertical strokes, used for bitcoin.
The rotation design, adapted once more.
Looped stitches worked along a fabric edge.
A symbol language meant to need no translation.
A blue figure with outstretched arms inside a ring of laurel, Germany's environmental label.
An angular rune-like glyph marking a Bluetooth wireless connection.
Cotton cloth patterned in fermented-mud dark on cream.
An open book with a pen, marking a scholar, clerk or writer.
A small block of stamps bound into a booklet.
A seven-armed sun wheel.
A fixed loop that does not tighten under load.
Slashes and crosses recording spares and strikes.
A signature riding the freight.
Text present on the object that the editor judges a mistake.
The ancestor of the digits.
The earliest Indian text dividers.
A small emblem naming the trade.
A grammar for reading a brand.
Four quadrants showing each player's cards by suit.
A three-pronged arrow marking British government property.
A chain with one link broken, carved on a monument.
A classical column carved snapped off partway up.
A sign of letters left out.
One of four living Philippine scripts.
A sound that carries further than a shout.
A small coffin or urn outline before a date, marking a burial.
A pre-arranged indicator paid by the recipient.
A butterfly carved on a monument, most often a child's.
A small charge added to arms to distinguish one son from another.
A winged staff with two serpents wound around it, originally the attribute of Hermes (Mercury), the messenger god.
A stacked pile of stones marking a route, a summit or a place.
A number naming a movement.
A medal awarded for service in a named conflict or theatre.
Letters that look Greek and are not.
Matching Roman-numeral-like scribes on two timbers.
The rotation principle, applied again.
A rope drawn round a royal name.
A number burnt into oak.
The next page's first word printed at the foot of this one.
A script read from beneath another text.
A circlet with rays each ending in a star.
An Iberian system for a Celtic language.
A cross with a ring encircling the intersection of its arms.
A knot built on a hidden grid.
A mark showing mail has been examined and resealed.
A lower-case c crossed by a vertical stroke, marking a hundredth of a currency unit.
A stepped cross of twelve outer corners, often with a central hole.
A Brahmic script across two states.
A script of a state that ended.
A wreath of leaves with four flowers.
A name pressed into the crust.
Two parallel lines restricting how a cheque may be paid.
A syllabary made by a man who could not read.
Exclamation and question marks judging a move's quality.
A small flag that falls when time runs out.
Plus, minus and crossed shapes rating who stands better.
The Greek letters X and P superimposed as a monogram of Christ.
Two beads above and five below a bar.
Complex numeral characters used on cheques.
A character standing for the one before it.
A symmetrical decorative knot tied from a single cord.
A seal carrying a phrase rather than a name.
A red block of carved characters.
A column of small characters closing a work.
A Khwarazmian chancery hand.
A chrysanthemum on a numbered bonus tile.
Vietnamese written in Chinese characters.
A single winding path set into a floor — not a maze.
The building points east, and that is why 'the east end' means the altar.
A sprig of rue in silver.
A capital letter A, its legs extending slightly past a surrounding circle, used internationally as a symbol of anarchism.
Two hands holding a crowned heart, an Irish emblem of love and loyalty.
A pattern that is title to country.
A charge of disputed identity, drawn as ranked pipes.
Two hands joined in a handshake, carved on a monument.
A rounded cloud outline, standing for a remote service or remote storage.
Two turns crossing over their own parts on a spar.
A stamp issued in a roll with two plain edges.
Letters and a number rating a coin's preservation.
D G REG F D — the Latin round the rim, expanded.
Seven sides, a bimetallic ring, a scalloped edge — denomination by feel.
The solar term at 195° of solar longitude.
A compact string of letters, superscripts and page counts.
A statement at the end or start of a book naming who made it.
A uniform rounded-top headstone bearing a unit badge, name and optional emblem.
A star-like figure of radiating points marking the cardinal directions on a map or chart.
A ringed cross painted or cut on a church wall, marking an anointing.
A sheet marking identifying a printing for accounting.
Greek letters counting in Egypt.
A row of small carved heads under the eaves.
A mark closing a section.
A laid thread held down by small stitches.
Rotation carries the vowel.
A crescent marking a second son.
A figure that names a lineage.
The dense block of sigla at the foot of a scholarly edition recording variant readings.
A cross-shaped decoration — the dominant form for gallantry awards in Europe.
A cross with forked ends marking an eighth son.
Two diagonal stitches crossing in a square.
Two tools carved crossed in saltire, marking a trade.
Numbered squares keying clues to their starting cells.
A crown on a decoration, marking the sovereign as the source of the honour.
Daggers around text the editor believes is corrupt and cannot repair.
A sign that is written and never said.
Wedges counted in sixties.
Where the sign goes, and why the answer is different in every country.
Whether the sign goes before or after the amount.
A green label declaring the contents and value of an international item.
Greek written in syllables.
Bands of patterned colour on wooden building members.
Letter-and-number shorthand for a dartboard segment, such as T20 or D16.
A round red figure with a bearded face and no limbs.
An opening word above the text.
Raised hands twisting from the wrist, used in place of clapping.
A point or a comma, depending on the country.
The third script on the stone.
The vertical and horizontal lines that carry the relationships in a tree.
A phonemic alphabet for a territory.
Three digits, a decimal point and further digits.
Both hands cupped in the lap, right resting on left, thumb tips touching.
A count, a d, a die size and a modifier.
The dot patterns on a die, and the rule that opposite faces total seven.
An angled mark flagging a quotation.
A doubled upright stroke.
The script the Maldives used before Thaana.
The marriage rings drawn apart, meaning the marriage ended.
A Jammu hand related to Sharada.
A prefix and suffix giving a permanent handle to a document.
An S crossed by one or two vertical strokes, used for dollar and peso currencies.
Pictographs still being written.
A style with a stated origin.
The character for joy written twice, side by side.
A capital letter suffix naming a component.
A cube marked 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64, used to raise the stake in backgammon.
A dove carved on a monument, often in flight or with an olive branch.
A classical urn with a cloth laid over it.
Numbered squares recording moves on the playing diagonal.
Five colours in five points.
A circlet with strawberry leaves and no balls.
A label certifying a maker.
A shorthand that became a script.
A head meaning the tax was paid.
Bars of varying width encoding a product number.
A circlet with balls raised on points above leaves.
A circle quartered by a cross — the Earth.
The character for east on a tile face.
A circlet with plain triangular points.
Lines following a shape at even intervals outward.
A letter A to E followed by two digits.
Words or a pattern cut into a coin's rim.
Wording distinguishing an edition from an impression.
A picture that fixes the meaning.
An Albanian alphabet from one manuscript.
The solar term at 150° of solar longitude.
A circle brushed in a single unbroken stroke.
A letter and year fixing a coordinate frame.
A figure of eight on a dial.
Notation for text deliberately removed from the object in antiquity.
Thirteen months, one of five days.
A cross of dense interlaced latticework with no free ends.
Barred letters standing for numbers.
The numerals Rome inherited.
A rounded E crossed by two horizontal strokes, marking the euro.
A painted thanks on a wall.
A star name with a lower-case letter.
A permanent loop made by tucking strands back.
A pattern of vertical bars orienting mail for machines.
Two right hands clasped, a betrothal motif on European rings.
A vertical stave with two short arms angled up to the right.
A single line of text encoding a whole chess position.
A stopper knot forming an eight in the rope.
A set of hand shapes standing for the letters of a written alphabet.
A firefighter's helmet carved on a monument, often with crossed axes or a ladder.
A printed design on an envelope issued with a new stamp on its first day.
A cancellation applied on a stamp's first day of sale.
A number with a constellation name.
A pair of arcs cut in from the shield sides.
A stylised lily marking a sixth son.
A number identifying the holding an animal belongs to.
A rectangle with a central triangle and two corners.
A bullet opening a paragraph.
A fixed order of marks used where numbers are unsuitable.
An indicator for mail sent by serving personnel.
A number identifying a management unit of woodland.
A small five-petalled flower carved on a memorial.
A rounded rectangle that is never quite one.
A U that fills what the ovoid leaves.
A private handstamp on mail carried outside the post.
A roundel barry wavy of blue and white.
A printed impression showing postage paid by machine rather than by stamp.
Latin capitals, some upside down.
A mark made by chilling rather than burning.
Ten-day weeks, briefly.
The solar term at 210° of solar longitude.
An award for a specific act of courage, as distinct from service.
An alphabet for Wolof.
One throws water off the roof; the other does not, and only one is a gargoyle.
The small marks that stand in for born, died and married before a date.
A cross before a date meaning the person died then.
A plain silver cross bearing St George and the dragon, for gallantry away from the enemy.
A cluster of dots dividing text.
Acorns, leaves, hearts and bells.
A black skull and crossbones in a red-bordered diamond, the GHS symbol for acute toxicity.
The first Slavic alphabet.
Letters and numbers naming points on a Go board, in three competing conventions.
Numbers, triangles, squares and circles printed on stones in a Go diagram.
Numbered stones showing the order of a sequence.
Round black stones placed on the marked star points before play begins.
A colour and a coordinate naming where a stone is placed.
Small marks showing captured stones and counted territory.
A pair of fish drawn upright and facing one another, tails down.
A collar tab marking high rank.
A name written fast.
The solar term at 60° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 75° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 30° of solar longitude.
Sanskrit written in the Tamil country.
The character for prosperity on a tile face.
A face with foliage growing from it, carved in a church.
A phonetic shorthand using stroke length and elliptical curves, of uniform thickness.
A scale mapped onto the palm.
A recent script for a Himalayan language.
Two stamps joined across a blank margin.
A triangular wedge running to the shield centre.
A square pieced from two triangles.
Consonant shapes drawn from the mouth.
A script for a stateless language.
A carved cylinder stamping a name in red ink.
A living Philippine abugida.
An Aramaic hand from one city.
Figures pecked into lava.
A lunar year pulled back into the sun.
The sun, switched on and off.
The letters HD with a number.
A slip that revises a name.
Crossed diagonal stitches forming a zigzag band.
Hieroglyphs written at speed.
A year counted from a journey.
A coin recarved by hand.
A chalk or coal mark left on a gatepost as a message to the next traveller.
Chalk on a foot before shoeing.
An hourglass carved on a monument, marking time running out.
A household's sign of ownership.
A blue roundel.
Part alphabet, part syllabary.
Three letters, I H S, carved as a Christian monogram.
A stamp issued without perforations.
The letters IC with a number.
A list of cited passages ordered by source rather than by topic.
A Devanagari 'ra' with a doubled horizontal bar, marking the Indian rupee.
A number distinguishing one animal within a holding.
Short inscriptions nobody can read.
A small shield borne on a shield.
The Sasanian hand on rock.
A chancery hand on rock.
Raised ink a reader can feel on a banknote.
Lines on the face and hands.
The Cree design, carried north.
The character for fortune, hung upside down.
A torch carved pointing downward, sometimes still alight.
Raised and lowered ticks before a stressed syllable.
A thirteen-digit number identifying one edition of a book.
Three letters naming a currency unambiguously.
An eight-digit number identifying a serial publication.
Trailing ivy carved winding across a monument.
A composite emblem shaped like a standing figure, containing a swastika, a raised palm and a crescent.
Four arms for four states of being.
A pre-velar breath mark.
A stylised numeral four or Greek zeta crossed by a bar — Jupiter, and tin.
The clerk's hand of north India.
A bird's foot marking an omission.
A single motif in a circular field, drawn in one colour.
The velar breath mark in Kannada.
A script devised in a single year.
Strips of woven cloth with named geometric blocks.
A stroke turning a letter into a number.
A key written as numbers.
Numbers from the Gandharan north-west.
Two scripts, one still unread.
Signs for the days of the moon.
A community's script for its own texts.
A mark closing a whole work.
An official Sindhi hand, briefly.
Heavy parallel bars struck across a stamp.
A hollow fish-shaped windsock flown from a pole.
A cross within a circle, marking four moments of a life.
Another letter kept only for counting.
A carved floral door lattice.
A small drawstring pouch as an emblem.
A carved post with a fierce face.
Spaces between words in a block script.
Painted rafter patterns that name a house.
A mark that changes the vowel.
A curl that ended a sentence.
Dots or a rule showing a gap where text is missing entirely.
A lamb carved on a monument, most often a child's.
A Lao silent-letter mark.
A letter lying on its side.
A single anchored chain loop forming a petal.
The bracket system that separates what survives on a stone from what an editor supplied.
Brackets around text deleted in antiquity.
The headword form under which a word is listed.
Double lines showing where a piece may be adjusted.
Syllables rotated into a block.
Letters, a number, then a decimal cutter and a year.
The ancestor of Tifinagh.
A trumpet-shaped lily carved on a monument.
A Himalayan script with a full stop of its own.
Slashes showing where the lines of the original object break.
The script Linear B came from, unread.
A picture standing beside a count.
A short-lived script, recently read.
Rotation applied to Latin capitals.
A steam engine carved on a monument, marking a railway worker.
Strips built outward from a central square.
A mark struck into the cut end of a log.
A script named after a palm leaf.
A rope crossing itself to enclose an opening.
The letter D marking a comet no longer seen.
A stylised open flower on a stem, the commonest devotional plant symbol in Asia.
A Roman numeral after a spectral type.
A Latin term with a proper name.
A horseshoe-like loop, upright for north and inverted for south.
A Greek-derived script with extra sounds.
A lyre or harp carved on a monument, marking a musician.
A dated circle with wavy lines applied by machine.
A merchant's script with no vowels.
Named hand patterns with point or fan values.
The solar term at 300° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 120° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 255° of solar longitude.
A script with no final consonants.
A sign standing for 'date'.
Fractions with their own glyphs.
A wooden mallet with a stone chisel, marking a mason.
Mongolian letters with added dots.
An alphabet that counts vowels as letters.
A script that travelled with a religion.
A Bon liturgical script.
Lines, crosses and hands added in a book's margin.
A mark for mail carried by ship.
Who made a mark is the first question, and it changes what it can mean.
A circlet alternating leaves and balls on the rim.
Two interlocked rings before a date, meaning a marriage.
A circle with an arrow pointing up and right — Mars, the male sign, and iron.
A footless bird marking a fourth son.
A script for a language across four states.
A small angular monogram identifying who cut the stone.
A scratched semicircle of lines on a south wall — a sundial for service times.
A medieval sleeve with a long hanging cuff.
Dots for ones, bars for fives.
A rounded square packed with smaller signs.
Signs for the units of a date.
Signs read in blocks.
A shell standing for nothing.
A metal bar fixed across a medal's ribbon, naming a campaign or action.
A five-pointed star suspended from a light blue ribbon, the highest US military decoration.
A script for a language nobody spoke.
The Rod of Asclepius and the caduceus on memorials, and which of them actually means medicine.
A circle divided into four quadrants, often coloured.
A script revived and made official.
A skull, coffin or hourglass on a ring, worn as a reminder of mortality.
A syllabary written right to left.
A seven-branched lampstand, distinct from the nine-branched hanukkiah.
A seven-branched lampstand, used as a Jewish memorial marker.
A trader's sign on a bale.
A horned circle above a cross — Mercury, and quicksilver.
A read script in an unread language.
A carved stick carrying a message.
A Greek alphabet in the heel of Italy.
A constellation name in adjectival form.
Two joined loops on a flag.
Grooves or lettering round the rim, invented against coin clipping.
A gauze-covered oil lamp, marking a miner and used to detect gas.
A half-size copy of a medal, worn with evening dress.
The smallest liquid measure.
The solar term at 285° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 105° of solar longitude.
A name proposed by the discoverer and approved.
A number in parentheses before a name.
A year with two letters and a number.
The solar term at 240° of solar longitude.
A small letter or emblem saying which mint struck the coin.
A carving on the underside of a hinged choir seat.
A screenfold read like a path.
A decorative cord knot tied on a gift envelope.
The marks of Marathi administration.
A crescent — the Moon, and silver in alchemy.
A pharmacist's mortar and pestle carved on a monument.
A line of dots and dashes with a curved arrow.
A five-pointed star marking a third son.
A commercial hand from the Punjab.
A script made to unify Manding.
The cursive that became Arabic.
A carved seal in red.
A southern hand for Sanskrit.
A letter and a number for a rank.
A woven design with a maker's rules.
Rings around the cuff.
Figures only whole from above.
Bold outlined geometric blocks in saturated colour on a house wall.
A trident — Neptune.
The letters NGC with a number.
A block of nine squares in a three-by-three grid.
The letter C with a year and code.
Numbers beside a grid counting runs of filled cells.
The character for north on a tile face.
A monogram flagging a passage worth noting.
Ideographic marks drawn on cloth, skin and walls.
A small metal numeral on a ribbon, counting awards or tours.
A script written by women.
A second Hmong script, in the diaspora.
Oak leaves and acorns carved on a monument.
A small cluster of oak leaves worn on a ribbon to mark a repeat award.
Five colours: blue, white, red, black and yellow.
A tall tapering four-sided pillar with a pyramidal top.
The ancient mark for a line the scholar judged not to belong.
An eight-leaved figure marking a ninth son.
An Odia document invocation.
An indicator for mail sent on government business.
Notches cut along an edge.
An arrow saying where to start.
A continuous line with strokes crossing or touching it.
A script designed for Santali in 1925.
Angular letters cut for wood.
The alphabet Rome borrowed and kept.
Graffiti across a desert.
Wedges designed, not inherited.
The earlier hand of the Silk Road.
Angular letters cut in stone.
The link between Sogdian and Mongolian.
A bird standing where a cane would be.
An open book carved on a monument, often a Bible.
An orchid on a numbered bonus tile.
A sixteen-digit number identifying a researcher.
The insignia of an order, worn in a form that indicates the grade held.
A horizontal bar above a broad arrow, cut into stone as a height reference.
A narrow band inside and clear of the shield edge.
A Somali alphabet from the 1920s.
A syllabary that writes the rime first.
A script that hid its own words.
A circlet set with pointed stakes.
A small bronze palm frond worn on a ribbon, chiefly in French and Belgian systems.
A long feathered palm leaf carved on a monument.
A caravan city's own hand.
A design cut, not drawn.
A line under the line.
A flourished mark opening a section.
A logographic script that became an alphabet.
Gold ermine spots on a black field.
The squares, circles and connecting lines of a formal family diagram.
A black roundel.
An official's hand-sign.
Two small circles either side of a diagonal stroke, meaning 'per hundred'.
Initials perforated through a postage stamp to deter theft.
A figure giving the number of holes in a set length.
A number, the letter P and a name.
A printed indicator replacing a stamp in bulk mail.
Arrows lifting a point and narrowing its sides.
A text format recording a whole game with its tags.
Twenty-two letters that travelled.
A Greek alphabet in Anatolia.
Branches that mean relatedness, not time.
A pickaxe crossed with a shovel, marking a miner.
A herd mark tattooed onto both shoulders.
Letters as fragments of a grid.
Ships, crosses and names scratched by people passing through.
A basin with a drain, and a cupboard recess — both beside the altar.
A phonetic shorthand using stroke thickness and position to carry meaning.
A one-over-one-under grid, the simplest weave.
A Latin descriptor with a themed name.
A label recording a plant's origin and traceability.
A number in a sheet margin identifying the printing plate.
Paired mountain and valley arrows in alternation.
Farming implements carved on a monument, marking agricultural work.
A plum blossom on a numbered bonus tile.
Two-character card codes and the s or o that marks a starting hand suited or not.
Vowels placed around a consonant to show tone.
Letters addressed by row and column.
A drawn point of call.
A mark showing that postage was underpaid and a charge is owed on delivery.
A machine-printed bar or dot pattern encoding a delivery point.
An inked impression cancelling a stamp and recording where and when mail was handled.
A short verse or motto engraved inside a ring's band.
Interlocking crutch shapes in alternating tinctures.
A crossed, looping L, marking pound sterling and other pound currencies.
A woven knot of many interlocking crosses, tied in wool.
Two hands pressed together with fingers pointing upward.
A cancellation printed before the stamp is used.
Small holes guiding the ruling of a page.
An emblem identifying the printer of a book, placed on its title page or colophon.
A descending row of numerals showing which printing this is.
A record scratched where nothing else could be written.
A small extra emblem marking an occasion or a production detail.
A respelling or phonetic notation showing how a word sounds.
A barrel that survived a test.
The first alphabet, made from pictures.
A vowel written behind the letter.
A friction hitch gripping a rope under load.
A script named for one book.
The solar term at 15° of solar longitude.
A purple heart-shaped medal bearing a profile of George Washington.
A flower closing a chapter.
A square block of black and white cells with three large squares at its corners.
A mark of origin, not of maker.
A square pieced from four triangles.
Knotted cords hanging from a main cord.
Dyed cords carrying category.
The knot that means one.
Turns counted to give the digit.
A cord hanging from the main line.
One knot, one unit, in the tens and above.
A cord hanging off a cord.
A mark applied to mail sorted aboard a train.
The solar term at 330° of solar longitude.
Straight or flaming rays radiating between the arms of a decoration.
A black bead in the margin.
A stated interval before a treated area may be entered.
Obverse, reverse, legend, exergue, edge — the parts, and which carries what.
How the parts of a medal group fit together — medal, ribbon, clasp, device and the order they are worn in.
The recurring motifs on gravestones, and why confident one-line meanings for them are usually overstated.
Tools and objects carved on graves, and why they are weaker evidence of a trade than they look.
Terms naming the front and back of a leaf.
The character for centre on a tile face.
Two overhand knots tied in opposite directions.
A barcoded label headed R, identifying an item accepted as registered post.
Cuts in an ear naming an owner.
A Sumatran script of few letters.
The Sinhala raised r.
A painted mark protecting a tree from felling.
A stamped or written reason code on undelivered mail being sent back.
An arrow turning a flap inside or outside itself.
A row of short ribbon lengths worn in place of the medals themselves.
A small metal mark on a ribbon.
A Khmer raised r.
A letter sitting on a curve.
A staff with a single serpent coiled around it, associated in Greek mythology with Asclepius, the god of medicine.
A continuous repeating pattern applied by a wheel.
Glyphs from Easter Island, unread.
A script that is not read.
The stair to nowhere, and the beam socket above the chancel arch.
A rope passed once around an object.
A rose carved on a monument, sometimes shown with a broken stem.
A heraldic rose marking a seventh son.
A small circular ribbon knot worn on civilian dress to indicate an honour.
A curved arrow turning the model in the plane.
Cuts rather than holes along a stamp edge.
Letters the editor supplies to spell out an abbreviation the writer used.
A rope passed twice around an object.
A plain circular charge.
A heading or initial written in red.
A dot deciding hard or soft.
A lozenge pierced with a round hole.
A cloud-shaped head on a curved shaft.
Monumental letters of severe geometry.
The older Hebrew letters, still in use.
Digits written above the syllables.
The last of the numeral-only signs.
The marks of the Kashmiri hand.
Parallel stitches filling a shape solidly.
A structure with widely spaced, scattered interlacings.
A crossed sickle shape — Saturn, and lead.
A script for a migrant community.
A small hooked mark standing for con or cum.
A divided mark standing for is.
A bar above a letter standing for a missing n or m.
A p with a crossed descender.
A p with a curled descender.
A q with a stroke through its tail.
A crossed stroke closing a genitive plural.
A curled mark closing a word.
A partly unrolled scroll carved on a monument.
Different stamp designs joined in one sheet.
The red that makes the mark.
Four numbered tiles naming the seasons.
A vertical slice, drawn to rule.
A label identifying a certified batch of seed.
Marks showing the finished edge of woven cloth.
A small star worn on a military medal ribbon to count campaigns or awards.
An alphabet built to fit English sounds.
A pair of shears carved on a monument, marking a cloth trade or the cutting of life.
A female figure displaying her genitals, carved on a church or castle.
Two half hitches shortening a rope's middle.
A bend joining ropes of differing thickness.
A scallop or cockle shell carved on a monument.
A sailing vessel carved on a monument, marking a mariner.
Time struck in pairs.
The line the letters hang from.
A tile bearing the angle mover character.
The promoted bishop, written on the reverse.
The promoted rook, written on the reverse.
A mark showing a captured piece re-entered.
A tile bearing the gold character.
A five-sided tile bearing the king character.
A tile bearing the cassia horse character.
A tile bearing the fragrant chariot character.
A piece, a destination and a mark for dropping or promoting.
A tile bearing the foot soldier character.
A wedge-shaped tile pointing at the opponent.
A mark showing a piece has been turned.
A tile bearing the flying chariot character.
A tile bearing the silver character.
Two rope ends joined by interlocking their strands.
A single continuous stroke standing for a whole word in a shorthand system.
The character for long life, often in a roundel.
A stiff panel carrying the rank.
A coloured jar in the window.
Characters written in mirror image.
A note that an oddity was in the original and is not a printing error.
An opening blessing on the page.
Indian letters preserved in Japan.
A script from one city, barely read.
A word in capitals standing as a label for a sign, not a translation of it.
A report that means one thing.
A letter at the foot of a page showing where a gathering starts.
A device cut in reverse into a ring's face, to be read in its impression.
A two-dimensional script recording handshape, movement and facial expression.
An arrow pushing a point inward and inverting it.
Numbers written to resist forgery.
A stroke multiplying by a thousand.
Coloured pitch on a fleece.
A column interrupted on purpose.
A fixed value for each coloured ball, from one for red to seven for black.
A sliding scoreboard showing points and the break.
The script that turned the page sideways.
A language written in seven syllables.
A line drawn without lifting the finger.
A script attributed to a revelation, in 1936.
The character for south on a tile face.
A column of signs on a flag.
The script behind a national emblem.
Cups, coins, clubs and swords.
An overprint marking a stamp as not valid for postage.
An italic lower-case c, denoting the speed of light in vacuum.
The solar term at 0° of solar longitude.
A carpenter's square and a pair of compasses interlocked, the emblem of Freemasonry.
A square marking a 90-degree separation.
Text inside them is gone from the object and supplied by the editor.
An arrow flattening a flap open and down.
A slot cut obliquely through a wall to see the altar.
The Tibetan stack instead of a virama.
The part of the rope not being worked.
A star on a decoration — the commonest award motif, and the least transferable.
Nine marked intersections used for handicap stones.
The solar term at 135° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 315° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 45° of solar longitude.
The solar term at 225° of solar longitude.
A capital letter with a digit subdivision.
Overlapping slanted stitches forming a rope-like line.
A letter that is only a number.
Dense meandering lines that never cross.
Quilting worked along an existing seam line.
A monument carved as a rough-barked stump with its limbs cut short.
Two fish flanking a boat.
The solar term at 90° of solar longitude.
A circle with a dot at its centre — the Sun, and gold in alchemy.
A script revived by regulation.
Lines that are not evenly spaced.
An alphabet for a small Himalayan community.
The letters SN, a year and a letter code.
An overprint changing a stamp's face value.
How a medal hangs from its ribbon — ring, straight bar or ornate suspender.
A rod-derived shorthand for numbers.
A vertical stroke above the syllable.
An ancient hooked-cross symbol with a long history as a sign of good fortune across many cultures, and a separate, more recent history as the central emblem of Nazi Germany.
A script for a language called a dialect.
Two competing vowel systems.
A face that states a descent.
The flag drawn to a stated geometry.
A Palawan script held by few.
A script for scripture in the north.
A script crossing a national border.
Four strokes and a cross.
Debt cut into a split stick.
A branch with paper, offered.
Ditto, in Tamil.
An accounting mark for money due.
A date abbreviation in one glyph.
An accounting mark for money owed.
The word 'month' as a glyph.
The older Tamil money mark.
The word 'year' as a glyph.
One script for many varieties.
Thousands of characters, all invented at once.
Printed and painted bark cloth.
A thread count written as colour codes and numbers, defining a tartan.
The oldest writing in western Europe.
An alphabetic shorthand built from simplified letter shapes, used by journalists.
Games, sets and tie-break figures in a fixed order.
Two joined stamps printed head to foot.
A figure drawn from a measured grid.
A bat with outspread wings.
Twelve animals in a fixed order.
Three-line groups at the four corners.
The Victorian practice of assigning meanings to flowers — and why it is a poor key to gravestone carving.
Magpies among plum blossom.
A split pomegranate showing its seeds.
Ten stems against twelve branches, sixty pairs.
A ten-character ordinal series.
One language written three ways.
A roundel divided into three swirls.
A twelve-character ordinal series.
The year divided into twenty-four fifteen-degree steps.
Three interlinked chain rings, the emblem of the Odd Fellows.
A vertical stave with a triangle on its right side.
Geometric letters of the Amazigh.
A small numeral on a letter tile giving its score.
A turn with the end tucked and twisted on itself.
Colour written in lines.
The Maithili manuscript hand.
A mark resembling a small seven, standing for 'and' in Latin and Irish.
Squares of design on Inca cloth.
A comma-shaped swirl, often in a group of three.
What a coin's surface says about where it has been.
A red roundel.
A script for a very small community.
A crosstable of results by round and opponent.
Letters strung down a vertical line.
Coloured dots in a margin checking ink registration.
A dated mark applied at an office along the route.
A round-bellied covered vase with a narrow neck, drawn sealed rather than open.
A shell case turned into a vase.
A narrow orle, usually drawn doubled.
A small triangle with a central dot, marking a surveyed height and position.
An equilateral triangle marking a 120-degree separation.
Woven panels between the carvings.
A looping arrow instructing the model be flipped.
A stepped structure producing diagonal ridges.
Twenty named days in a cycle.
The high tone, usually left unmarked.
An alphabet written in wedges.
A dot beneath a letter: visible on the object but not certainly that letter.
A capital for every English sound.
A pre-labial breath mark.
A circle with a vertical stroke rising to a cross — Uranus.
A funerary urn with a weeping willow bending over it.
A note that a blank space on the object is deliberate, not damage.
Africa's first indigenous syllabary.
A dashed line with a curved arrow.
A drawn-out tone mark.
An alphabet that punctuated its syllables.
A circle above a cross — Venus, the female sign, and copper.
A symmetrical drawing traced on the ground in powder.
A bronze cross pattée bearing a lion and crown, the highest British gallantry award.
A circlet with sixteen silver balls in a row.
Thumb and forefinger touching to form a circle, other fingers extended.
A second Albanian invention.
Beads recording an agreement.
An alphabet devised in the 2000s.
A script attributed to a revelation.
A yoke with two hanging water skins.
Four linked grids specifying threading, tie-up, treadling and the resulting cloth.
The predicted cloth pattern computed from a draft.
The character for west on a tile face.
Ears or a sheaf of wheat carved on a monument.
Binding twine preventing a rope end from fraying.
A cross with bent arms, withdrawn from Diné use.
A language whistled across a valley.
The solar term at 165° of solar longitude.
A blank tile or one bearing an empty frame.
A winged child's face carved on a gravestone.
An hourglass with a wing on each side, for time flying.
A human skull with wings, carved on early gravestones.
Outspread wings on a badge or decoration, chiefly marking aviation.
One picture for each year.
The solar term at 270° of solar longitude.
A square of forty-nine coloured squares.
A stated interval before produce may be used.
A bale of wool or a merchant's mark carved on a monument.
The end of the rope being used to tie.
A laurel or oak wreath framing a decoration's central device.
A circular garland of leaves or flowers, carved or laid on a memorial.
A dotted line showing an edge hidden inside.
A disc bearing the advisor character.
A disc bearing the cannon character.
A disc bearing the chariot character.
A disc bearing the elephant or minister character.
A disc bearing the general or marshal character.
A disc bearing the horse character.
A piece, a file and a direction relative to the player.
A crossed square at each end of the board.
Chinese characters on flat discs, differing by side.
A blank band across the middle of the board.
A disc bearing the soldier character.
A diagram built to a construction.
A numbered skein icon on a ball band, giving a yarn's thickness category.
A figure like a person with arms raised, from Tifinagh.
A peacock standing for an angel.
A capital Y crossed by one or two horizontal strokes.
A mark for a letter left out.
A script for a closed tradition.
A thousand syllables, standardised.
The closing half of a head ornament.
An alphabet that got smaller.
Mongolian written in Tibetan blocks.
The oldest writing in the Americas.
Thirty-seven symbols annotating Mandarin sound.
A circle with four groups of four rays.
Colours read as a message.