A circle above a cross — Venus, the female sign, and copper.
Also known as: Female symbol, Female sign, Woman symbol, Copper symbol, Hand mirror symbol
The counterpart of the Mars symbol, and equally overloaded: Venus in astronomy, the female sign in biology and social use, and copper in alchemy. The popular 'hand mirror' explanation of its shape is a later story rather than its origin.
Denoted copper 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 attraction, harmony and affection.
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 female sex in biology, medicine and genealogy, and women or women's facilities in general signage — its commonest use today, and the reason Unicode names the character FEMALE SIGN.
Contexts: History
Is widely explained as Venus's hand mirror. As with the Mars symbol's shield and spear, this reading is a later rationalisation rather than a documented origin, and the glyph more plausibly derives from a contracted Greek word.
The mirror story is repeated far more often than the evidence supports. Symbolwise records that it is contested rather than settling it.
Contexts: History
Is used doubled or combined in symbols adopted by various social movements, which are distinct marks built from this character rather than uses of it.
Contexts: History
A circle sitting directly above a small upright cross, joined at the circle's base.
Paired as the female and male signs, and as Venus and Mars.