Three stacked horizontal lines that open a navigation menu.
Also known as: Hamburger button, Menu icon, Three lines menu, Navigation icon, Trigram for heaven
Three stacked lines open a hidden navigation menu. The form dates to the early 1980s Xerox Star interface and became near-universal with mobile web design; the food nickname came much later.
Opens a navigation menu that is otherwise hidden, most commonly on narrow screens.
Contexts: Software
Was designed for the Xerox Star interface in the early 1980s and returned to prominence with responsive mobile design; the 'hamburger' nickname is a later, informal coinage.
Early 1980s; widespread from the 2010s · Contexts: Software
Is criticised in interface design for hiding navigation behind an icon many users do not recognise as a control — a live debate rather than a settled verdict.
Recorded as an ongoing design argument, not as a finding. Evidence on discoverability is mixed.
Contexts: Software
Shares its Unicode code point with ☰, the I Ching trigram for heaven — an unrelated symbol that happens to be three horizontal lines.
The interface control and the trigram are distinct in meaning; only the glyph coincides.
Contexts: Software
Three short horizontal lines of equal length, stacked with even gaps between them.
Both use stacked horizontal lines to stand for a menu; one is a physical keyboard key, the other a control on screen.