Left White Lenticular Bracket 〖
〖 (U+3016) 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: Left White Lenticular Bracket is part of the Symbols family (block: CJK Symbols and Punctuation). 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 LEFT WHITE LENTICULAR BRACKET (codepoint U+3016) sits in the CJK Symbols and Punctuation block. It is used in projects that follow East Asian typography. It helps delimit groups, parameters, or quoted text in writing and code, and it often appears with a matching closing symbol. In historical and technical practice, such brackets mark sublists, function arguments, or quoted phrases, providing a clear boundary between items. In modern text, they support precise notation in dictionaries, data formats, and programming examples. The shape makes the opening delimiter easy to spot, and readers learn to look for the corresponding closing mark. Support in fonts varies, so some readers may see a hollow or faint glyph. When used, this bracket aids clarity without relying on language. It is one option among many punctuation marks for delimiting content. Writers choose it when a distinct boundary is needed and simpler marks are not appropriate. Overall, the character serves as a precise tool in specialized notation and international text contexts.
Copy and input: the quickest method is to copy the character here. You can also insert it by its codepoint U+3016 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.
Technical details
- Codepoint:
U+3016 - General Category:
Ps - Age:
1.1 - Bidi Class:
ON - Block:
CJK Symbols and Punctuation - Script:
Common - UTF-8:
E3 80 96 - UTF-16:
3016 - UTF-32:
00003016 - HTML dec:
〖 - HTML hex:
〖 - JS escape:
\u3016 - Python \N{}:
\N{LEFT WHITE LENTICULAR BRACKET} - Python \u:
\u3016 - Python \U:
\U00003016 - URL-encoded:
%E3%80%96 - CSS escape:
\3016
How to type / insert
Fast copy: click the Copy button near the top of this page.
By codepoint: in many editors and IDEs, you can insert via the Unicode code U+3016 or a built‑in character picker.
HTML: use the numeric entity 〖 (hex) or 〖 (decimal) when an HTML entity is needed.
Compatibility & troubleshooting
Font support: if the symbol does not render, the current font likely lacks this codepoint. Choose a font with broad Unicode coverage or allow a fallback font.
Web pages: ensure your CSS font stack includes a general fallback; avoid relying on images for common symbols to preserve accessibility and copyability.