Check mark
A check mark, checkmark or tick (British English) is a mark (✓, ✔, etc.) used (primarily in the English speaking world) to indicate the concept "yes" (e.g. "yes; this has been verified", "yes; that is the correct answer", "yes; this has been completed", or "yes; this [item or option] applies to me"). The x mark is also sometimes used for this purpose (most notably on election ballot papers, e.g. in the United Kingdom), but otherwise usually indicates "no", incorrectness, or failure.
✓ | |||||||
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Check mark | |||||||
In Unicode | U+2713 ✓ CHECK MARK (HTML ✓ · ✓, ✓ ) | ||||||
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As a verb, to check (off) or tick (off), means to add such a mark. Printed forms, printed documents, and computer software (see checkbox), commonly include squares in which to place check marks.
International differences
The check mark is a predominant affirmative symbol of convenience in the English-speaking world because of its instant and simple composition. In other countries, however, the mark is more complicated.
It is common in Swedish schools for a ✓ to indicate that an answer is incorrect, while "R", from the Swedish rätt, i.e., "correct", is used to indicate that an answer is correct.[1]
In Finnish, ✓ stands for väärin, i.e., "wrong", due to its similarity to a slanted v. The opposite, "correct", is marked with , a slanted vertical line emphasized with two dots.[2]
In Japan[3] and Korea, the O mark is used instead of the check mark, and the X or ✓ mark are commonly used for wrong.
In the Netherlands a 'V' is used to show that things are missing while the flourish of approval (or krul) is used for approving a section or sum.
In Britain, the check mark is commonly called a tick.
Unicode
The "Symbol, Other" category of Unicode provides various check marks:
- U+237B ⍻ NOT CHECK MARK
- U+2611 ☑ BALLOT BOX WITH CHECK
- U+2705 ✅ WHITE HEAVY CHECK MARK
- U+2713 ✓ CHECK MARK
- U+2714 ✔ HEAVY CHECK MARK
- U+1F5F8 🗸 LIGHT CHECK MARK
- U+1F5F9 🗹 BALLOT BOX WITH BOLD CHECK
See also
- Bracket
- Tally marks
- Thumbs signal
- X mark
- O mark
References
- SAOB:Bock (Swedish)
- Version 3.2 of the Unicode Standard, General Punctuation 2002-03-27
- "Internationalization - W3C". www.w3.org. Retrieved 2020-07-22.