Skull and crossbones

Meaning and uses

A skull over crossed bones, the classic sign for poison, pirates and danger. In names it adds a dark or rebellious edge.

Unicode details

☠ is the Unicode character named SKULL AND CROSSBONES, code point U+2620, in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. It was added in Unicode 1.1 in 1993, and Unicode classes it as a symbol (general category So).

It can also appear as an emoji, listed under the name “skull and crossbones”. Plain text is its default, but some apps draw it in colour anyway. Adding the invisible variation selector U+FE0F after it asks for the emoji style, and U+FE0E asks for plain text.

Tap a code to copy it:

How to type ☠

• On any device, tap the copy button above, then paste with a long press on a phone, Ctrl+V on Windows or Cmd+V on a Mac.
• On a phone, it is on the emoji keyboard: search for “skull and crossbones”. On Windows, press the Windows key and the full stop (Win+.) to open the emoji panel and search there.
• On a Mac, press Control+Cmd+Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for “skull and crossbones”.
• On Linux, most desktops accept Ctrl+Shift+U, then 2620, then Space or Enter.
• In HTML, use ☠. In a CSS content property, use "\2620".