Wheelchair Symbol Emoji
The International Symbol of Access, marking step-free routes and facilities.
Try Wheelchair Symbol emoji
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Meaning & usage
What does the Wheelchair Symbol emoji mean?
The International Symbol of Access, marking step-free routes and facilities.
Informational and neutral. It is genuine signage, so it belongs in practical detail about access rather than in metaphor, where it lands badly.
How to use ♿ naturally
Accessibility information, signage and disability topics.
Reaction symbols work like visual emphasis: they reinforce a word, rate an idea or replace a short response. Repetition normally increases intensity, but it can also make a message feel more performative.
From standard to slang
The history of ♿
- 2010
First defined as emoji
According to Unicode’s Emoji Versions data, Wheelchair Symbol was first defined as emoji in Emoji 0.6, dated 2010. That label is retrospective: Unicode applied it later to the early mobile core it inherited from the Japanese carriers.
- Before the keyboard
Its visual roots
The International Symbol of Access, designed in 1968. It is functional signage, which is why it works for accessibility information and badly for metaphor.
- Today
How its use evolved
Accessibility information, signage and disability topics.
Dates follow Unicode’s official Emoji Versions chart. Versions before Emoji 1.0 are labelled retrospectively. See the history of emoji.
In conversation
Examples of ♿ in messages
These examples show the emoji in complete messages, where the words make its intended tone easier to read.
Step-free access is at the north entrance ♿
The new platform lift is finally working ♿
Accessible seating can be booked on the phone line ♿
When to use it
Using ♿ clearly
Accessibility information, signage and disability topics. It lands as wheelchair symbol emoji or ♿ meaning when the rest of the message supports that reading, and it is the surrounding words that do the deciding — so in a sensitive, professional or cross-cultural conversation, say the thing outright as well.
Common questions
About the wheelchair symbol emoji
What does ♿ mean in a text message?
The International Symbol of Access, marking step-free routes and facilities. Informational and neutral. It is genuine signage, so it belongs in practical detail about access rather than in metaphor, where it lands badly.
Is ♿ always positive?
Not always. Its usual readings are wheelchair symbol emoji, ♿ meaning, accessibility symbol, and irony or the relationship between the people can flip any of them.
Why does ♿ look different on another device?
U+267F identifies the emoji; the picture is a font, drawn separately by Apple, Google, Microsoft and Samsung. Only the artwork changes, never the character.
How do I copy and paste the wheelchair symbol emoji?
Use the copy button at the top of this page. ♿ is a character, not an image, so it pastes into messages, captions and filenames as ordinary text.
When was the wheelchair symbol emoji introduced?
Unicode’s Emoji Versions data first records ♿ as emoji in Emoji 0.6, dated 2010. Early emoji version numbers can be retrospective, so this date describes its place in the standardised emoji set rather than the first-ever appearance of the underlying symbol.
Easily confused
♿ compared with similar emoji
These sit close enough in meaning that people reach for the wrong one. Here is what actually separates them.
Wheelchair Symbol or No Entry?
♿ tells you a route is open to you. ⛔ tells you it is closed, and the two often appear on the same door for different reasons.
For developers
♿ in code
Every value below is generated from the character itself, so it stays correct even where a file encoding cannot hold the emoji directly.
| Format | Value | When to use it | Copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode | U+267F | The standard reference. Use it to search a character map or a spec. | |
| HTML (hex) | ♿ | For HTML and XML. Safe in files that are not saved as UTF-8. | |
| HTML (decimal) | ♿ | The same reference in decimal. Both render identically. | |
| CSS | \267F | For the content property. Keep the quotes around the whole value. | |
| JavaScript | \u{267F} | A string-literal escape. Needs the u flag inside a regular expression. | |
| URL-encoded | %E2%99%BF | Percent-encoded UTF-8, for query strings and API requests. |
Reference card
Emoji details
- Unicode
- U+267F
- Category
- Symbols & Reactions
- Also known as
- wheelchair symbol emoji♿ meaningaccessibility symbol
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