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A break in a wire bridged by a hinged line, marking a switch.
Also known as: Toggle symbol, Contact symbol, Open switch symbol
A switch is drawn as a gap in a wire with a hinged line lifted away from one contact — a picture of a physical blade that swings to make or break the connection. Schematics show it in its resting state, which is a convention worth knowing before reading one.
Marks a switch: a component that makes or breaks a connection in a circuit.
Contexts: Electrical equipment
Depicts a physical blade hinged at one contact and lifted away from the other, so the drawn gap is the open circuit itself.
Contexts: Electrical equipment
Is drawn in its unoperated resting state by convention, so a switch shown open is one that is open until someone acts on it — not necessarily one that is open in normal service.
This is why relay and safety contacts are labelled normally-open or normally-closed rather than left to the drawing alone.
Contexts: Electrical equipment
Is always drawn in its resting position, which is what makes it readable. A contact shown open is normally open and closes when operated; one shown closed is normally closed and opens. A schematic never shows a circuit mid-operation, so the drawing is a statement about the unoperated state.
Contexts: Technical drawing, Electrical equipment
Related forms that are not treated as separate canonical symbols — see our variant rules.
Changeover (single-pole double-throw)
One moving contact drawn between two fixed ones, so operating it disconnects one path and makes the other. The basis of two-way lighting.
Push-to-make momentary
The contact drawn with a pushbutton cap above it, returning to its resting state when released. A doorbell rather than a light switch.
Two dots on a horizontal wire with a gap between them, and a straight line hinged at one dot rising away at a shallow angle over the other.