Natural sign

An open bracket-like figure of two stems and two bars, cancelling a sharp or flat.

Also known as: Natural symbol, Open square music symbol

MusicalEveryday & digitalStandard profile

Meanings

♮ cancels any sharp or flat and restores the note to its unaltered pitch. It is the third accidental and the only one that does not change a pitch but returns it.

Common modern usageVerified fact
Cancels a sharp or flat, restoring the note to the pitch its letter name alone implies.
Contexts: Music
Historically documentedVerified fact
Descends from the square b of medieval notation, the hard form paired with the rounded b that became the flat.
Contexts: Music
Officially standardisedVerified fact
Is encoded as U+266E MUSIC NATURAL SIGN.
Contexts: Music

Visual description

Two vertical stems, the left one extending downward and the right upward, joined by two short parallel horizontal bars that enclose a small open square between them.

Symmetry: point
Orientation: upright

Part of the same system as: Sharp sign
The accidental set.

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is defined by a current official standard.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references.

Sources

Accidental (music)
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for what a mark instructs a performer to do and for uncontested history, never for a claim that any body defines staff notation.
Unicode Code Chart: Miscellaneous Symbols (U+2600–U+26FF)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-08-01
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in performance.

Last reviewed 2026-07-31

Part of

Staff notation — reading a score

Help improve this page

Meanings

♮ cancels any sharp or flat and restores the note to its unaltered pitch. It is the third accidental and the only one that does not change a pitch but returns it.

Common modern usageVerified fact

Cancels a sharp or flat, restoring the note to the pitch its letter name alone implies.

Contexts: Music

Historically documentedVerified fact

Descends from the square b of medieval notation, the hard form paired with the rounded b that became the flat.

Contexts: Music

Officially standardisedVerified fact

Is encoded as U+266E MUSIC NATURAL SIGN.

Contexts: Music

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is defined by a current official standard.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is defined by a current official standard.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references.

Sources

Accidental (music)
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-08-01
Tertiary reference. Used for what a mark instructs a performer to do and for uncontested history, never for a claim that any body defines staff notation.
Unicode Code Chart: Miscellaneous Symbols (U+2600–U+26FF)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-08-01
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in performance.

Last reviewed 2026-07-31

Meanings

Visual description

Related & commonly confused symbols

Meanings

Visual description

Related & commonly confused symbols