Open Centre Black Star ✫

✫ (U+272B) is a standard Unicode character that you can copy and paste anywhere text is accepted. This page provides a concise reference with safe tips, internal links, and practical guidance so you can use it reliably across apps and platforms.

What it is and where it’s used: Open Centre Black Star is part of the Symbols family (block: Dingbats). If you need styled or decorative alternatives, try our Fancy Text tool to generate compatible text that works in most modern interfaces.

History & usage: The symbol is the OPEN CENTRE BLACK STAR, assigned to code point U+272B in the Dingbats block. It belongs to the Common script and is part of a set used for decorative symbols. The star can appear with a hollow center and a bold outline, depending on font design. In writing and interfaces, the star surrogate helps draw attention without words. The symbol is easy to recognize and print well at small sizes. It is often used to mark items as noteworthy or to add emphasis in lists. In many apps, users see it as a rating component or a quick visual indicator of favorites. The character works across languages that support the Dingbats range. It serves as a compact icon in menus, forms, and notes. Because it is a dingbat, it can stand alone as a punctuation-like marker or be paired with text for emphasis. The usage phrase describes its common role: stars are commonly used for ratings or to highlight favorites.

Copy and input: the quickest method is to copy the character here. You can also insert it by its codepoint U+272B in many development tools or editors. Some operating systems provide a character viewer or input palette that lets you search by name or code and insert the glyph into documents.

Display and fallback: if you see an empty box (tofu) or a placeholder rectangle, the active font might not include this codepoint. Switching to a font with broader Unicode coverage or using a fallback font usually fixes the issue. On the web, ensure the page’s font stack includes a general‑purpose fallback.

Related references: browse the Categories for similar characters. When choosing a symbol, prefer the official codepoint for semantic clarity and better compatibility with search, copy, and accessibility tooling.

See our category page for related symbols.