Settings symbol

A toothed wheel, marking a control that opens settings or preferences.

Also known as: Gear icon, Cog, Toothed wheel

Everyday & digitalEngineering & technicalStandard profile

Meanings

A cogwheel marks settings. The metaphor is mechanical adjustment rather than anything a computer does, and it has become conventional enough that the picture's original sense is no longer needed to read it.

Common modern usageVerified fact
Marks a control that opens a settings, preferences or configuration screen.
Contexts: Software
Common modern usageVerified fact
Borrows a mechanical metaphor that describes nothing a computer actually does, and is read by convention rather than by resemblance — one of the clearest cases of an interface icon whose meaning is entirely learned.
Contexts: Software

Visual description

A circle with a ring of evenly spaced rectangular teeth around its rim and a smaller open circle at its centre.

Symmetry: radial
Orientation: orientation independent

Confidence

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

Sources

Unicode Code Chart: Geometric Shapes (U+25A0–U+25FF)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-31
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.
Gear
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what an icon marks and how widely a convention is followed, never for a claim that any body defines it.

Last reviewed 2026-08-01

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Meanings

Common modern usageVerified fact

Marks a control that opens a settings, preferences or configuration screen.

Contexts: Software

Common modern usageVerified fact

Borrows a mechanical metaphor that describes nothing a computer actually does, and is read by convention rather than by resemblance — one of the clearest cases of an interface icon whose meaning is entirely learned.

Contexts: Software

Confidence

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

Sources

Unicode Code Chart: Geometric Shapes (U+25A0–U+25FF)
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-07-31
Authoritative for the character's code point, name and block only. Unicode assigns identity; it does not define what a symbol means in use.
Gear
Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-07-31
Tertiary reference. Used for what an icon marks and how widely a convention is followed, never for a claim that any body defines it.

Last reviewed 2026-08-01