Tap ♀ to copy the female sign, the circle with a cross beneath it that also stands for the planet Venus. The emoji version ♀️ is in the variants list, and the table shows how to type it on every platform.
♀
FEMALE SIGN
U+2640 · tap the symbol to copy
How to Type the Female Symbol
Unicode
U+2640 FEMALE SIGN
HTML
♀ (add ️ for the emoji look)
Windows
Alt + 12 (numeric keypad, legacy code page), or type 2640 then Alt + X in Word
Mac
Control + Command + Space, search "female"; the picker inserts the emoji form
iPhone
Emoji keyboard → search "female"; ♀️ is in the Symbols group
Android
Gboard emoji search "female sign", or the Symbols tab of the emoji keyboard
LaTeX
\female or \venus (wasysym)
Female Symbol Variants and Lookalikes
♀️
Female Sign (emoji)Same character with U+FE0F; drawn on a coloured square on most platforms
♂
Male SignThe companion symbol, Mars
⚢
Doubled Female SignTwo interlocked female signs
⚤
Interlocked Female and Male SignThe two signs linked together
⚥
Male and Female SignA single glyph combining both; used for intersex and bigender meanings
⚧
Male with Stroke and Male and Female SignThe transgender symbol; also an emoji ⚧️
⚲
NeuterA circle with a stem and no cross
♁
EarthThe astronomical symbol for Earth; a female sign with the cross on top, easy to confuse
🚺
Womens RoomThe pictogram sign for facilities, an emoji only
⊕
Circled PlusA maths operator sometimes used in place of ♁
Using the Female Symbol
The female sign is a circle with a small cross hanging from it. Astrologers used it for the planet Venus long before it had anything to do with sex or gender; the botanist Carl Linnaeus borrowed it in the 1750s to mark female plants and animals in his catalogues, and biology kept the habit. A popular explanation reads the shape as a hand mirror, but historians of the symbol trace it to abbreviated Greek names of the planets written by medieval scribes. Unicode encoded it at U+2640 in 1993, and it gained an emoji presentation in 2016.
Text glyph and emoji
Typed on its own, ♀ is a text character that follows the colour of the surrounding words. Adding the variation selector U+FE0F after it produces ♀️, which most platforms draw as a white sign on a pink, purple or blue square. The same code point sits inside dozens of emoji sequences: a person emoji, a zero-width joiner and ♀️ together make the woman version, such as 🙋♀️ or 🧙♀️. That is why deleting one character from such an emoji sometimes leaves a stray ♀ behind.
Where it appears
Biology and medicine: pedigree charts, field notes, veterinary records and the sex column on lab forms, where ♀ and ♂ save space.
Astronomy and astrology: Venus in ephemerides and birth charts, sitting next to the glyphs on the zodiac symbols page.
Signage: paired with ♂ on toilet doors and changing rooms where the pictogram people are not used.
Profiles and bios: a compact way to state gender in a dating profile or a gaming handle, for example "22 ♀ London".
Related signs
Unicode holds a family of related characters in the same block: the doubled sign ⚢, the interlocked pair ⚤, the combined ⚥, the transgender symbol ⚧ and the neuter sign ⚲. They are distinct code points with their own meanings, and people use them to describe identity and orientation in bios; treat them with the same neutrality you would give any other personal detail. The Earth symbol ♁ looks like the female sign flipped, and the circled plus ⊕ is a maths operator, so check before pasting.
Typing and rendering
Windows still honours the old DOS code page for the first few Alt codes, which is why Alt + 12 on the numeric keypad produces ♀ in most programs, while Alt + 11 gives the male symbol. Word also accepts 2640 followed by Alt + X. Macs have no key combination, so the Character Viewer or a text replacement is the practical route, and phones list it in the emoji keyboard under Symbols. The glyph is in every system font, so the plain form renders on old devices and in places that strip emoji, such as some game chats. In a display name it converts through the cute fonts generator only as a plain character, since stylised alphabets do not include it.
Female Symbol FAQ
What does the ♀ symbol mean?
It is the female sign, used in biology, medicine and everyday writing to mean female or woman. The same glyph represents the planet Venus in astronomy and astrology, which is where it came from.
How do I type the female symbol on Windows?
Hold Alt and type 12 on the numeric keypad, then release. This legacy code works in Notepad, Word and most desktop programs. In Word you can also type 2640 and press Alt + X.
Why is there a ♀ left over when I delete a woman emoji?
Emoji such as 🙋♀️ are built from a base person, an invisible joiner and ♀️. Some keyboards delete the sequence one piece at a time, leaving the female sign behind until you press backspace again.
What is the difference between ♀ and ♀️?
They are the same code point, U+2640. The second carries the variation selector U+FE0F, which asks for the coloured emoji picture rather than a plain text glyph in the font colour.
Is the Venus symbol the same as the female symbol?
Yes. Astrologers used it for Venus first, and Linnaeus adopted it for female specimens in the eighteenth century. Unicode has one character for both meanings.
Can I use ♀ in an Instagram or TikTok bio?
Yes, both accept it in bios and display names. Handles are limited to letters, numbers, dots and underscores, so put it in the name or bio field rather than the username.