A circle with an arrow pointing up and right — Mars, the male sign, and iron.
Also known as: Male symbol, Male sign, Man symbol, Circle with an arrow, Alchemical iron symbol, Shield and spear symbol
One character doing three unrelated jobs: the planet Mars in astronomy, the male sign in biology and social use, and iron in alchemy. Unicode names it MALE SIGN, which reflects its commonest modern use rather than its origin.
Denotes the planet Mars in astronomical notation, where it is still used in ephemerides and almanacs.
Contexts: History
Denoted iron in alchemical writing, under the planet–metal correspondences.
A record of what alchemists wrote, not a claim that the association holds. The planet–metal correspondences were a system of belief, and the chemistry they rest on is not sound.
Medieval and early modern alchemy · Contexts: History
Is held in astrological tradition to signify drive, aggression and assertion.
Recorded as what astrological tradition assigns, not as a finding. Symbolwise does not assert that any planet influences anything, and astrology has no empirical standing.
Contexts: History
Marks the male sex in biology, medicine and genealogy, and men or men's facilities in general signage — its most frequent use today, and the reason Unicode names the character MALE SIGN rather than MARS.
Contexts: History
Is popularly explained as a shield and spear, but that reading appears to be a later rationalisation: the glyph is more plausibly a contraction of a Greek word for Mars, and the derivation is not settled.
Two accounts of the origin circulate and the evidence does not clearly favour either. The shield-and-spear story is the more repeated and the less supported.
Contexts: History
A circle with a straight arrow rising from its upper right edge at a diagonal, ending in an arrowhead.
Paired as the male and female signs, and as Mars and Venus. The pairing is conventional in both uses.