Dingbat

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Poem typeset with generous use of decorative dingbats, 1880s
Poem typeset with generous use of decorative dingbats, 1880s

A dingbat is an ornament or spacer used in typesetting, sometimes more formally known as a "printer's ornament". The term supposedly originated as onomatopoeia in old style metal-type print shops, where extra space around text or illustrations would be filled by "ding"ing an ornament into the space then "bat"ing tight to be ready for inking[citation needed].

The term continued to be used in the computer industry to describe fonts that had symbols and shapes in the positions designated for alphabetical or numeric characters.

An example (something like ITC Zapf dingbats series 100):

  ✁ ✂ ✃ ✄ ☎ ✆ ✇ ✈ ✉ ☛ ☞ ✌ ✍ ✎ ✏
✐ ✑ ✒ ✓ ✔ ✕ ✖ ✗ ✘ ✙ ✚ ✛ ✜ ✝ ✞ ✟
✠ ✡ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✧ ★ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯
✰ ✱ ✲ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ✽ ✾ ✿
❀ ❁ ❂ ❃ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❇ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋ ● ❍ ■ ❏
❐ ❑ ❒ ▲ ▼ ◆ ❖ ◗ ❘ ❙ ❚ ❛ ❜ ❝ ❞  

If you are seeing boxes for most of the above, then this may be due to the way your internet browser interprets the symbols.

The advent of Unicode and the universal character set it provides allowed commonly-used dingbats to be given their own character codes, from 2700 to 27BF. Although fonts claiming Unicode coverage will contain glyphs for dingbats in addition to alphabetic characters, fonts that have dingbats in place of alphabetic characters continue to be popular, primarily for ease of input.

Contents

Main article: Unicode symbols
Unicode Dingbat Range (2700–27BF)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
2700 ✀ ✁ ✂ ✃ ✄ ✅ ✆ ✇ ✈ ✉ ✊ ✋ ✌ ✍ ✎ ✏
2710 ✐ ✑ ✒ ✓ ✔ ✕ ✖ ✗ ✘ ✙ ✚ ✛ ✜ ✝ ✞ ✟
2720 ✠ ✡ ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥ ✦ ✧ ✨ ✩ ✪ ✫ ✬ ✭ ✮ ✯
2730 ✰ ✱ ✲ ✳ ✴ ✵ ✶ ✷ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✻ ✼ ✽ ✾ ✿
2740 ❀ ❁ ❂ ❃ ❄ ❅ ❆ ❇ ❈ ❉ ❊ ❋ ❌ ❍ ❎ ❏
2750 ❐ ❑ ❒ ❓ ❔ ❕ ❖ ❗ ❘ ❙ ❚ ❛ ❜ ❝ ❞ ❟
2760 ❠ ❡ ❢ ❣ ❤ ❥ ❦ ❧ ❨ ❩ ❪ ❫ ❬ ❭ ❮ ❯
2770 ❰ ❱ ❲ ❳ ❴ ❵ ❶ ❷ ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼ ❽ ❾ ❿
2780 ➀ ➁ ➂ ➃ ➄ ➅ ➆ ➇ ➈ ➉ ➊ ➋ ➌ ➍ ➎ ➏
2790 ➐ ➑ ➒ ➓ ➔ ➕ ➖ ➗ ➘ ➙ ➚ ➛ ➜ ➝ ➞ ➟
27A0 ➠ ➡ ➢ ➣ ➤ ➥ ➦ ➧ ➨ ➩ ➪ ➫ ➬ ➭ ➮ ➯
27B0 ➰ ➱ ➲ ➳ ➴ ➵ ➶ ➷ ➸ ➹ ➺ ➻ ➼ ➽ ➾ ➿

For more examples of dingbat fonts, see Wingdings and Webdings. Another famous dingbat font, Zapf Dingbats, was designed by the typographer Hermann Zapf.

v • d • e
Typography terminology
Page Pagination · Recto and verso · Margin · Column · Canons of page construction · Pull quote Lowercase 'a' in Adobe Caslon
Paragraph Widows and orphans · Leading · River · Baseline · Median · Alignment · Justification
Character Ligature · Letter-spacing · Kerning · Majuscule · Minuscule · Initial · x-height · Ascender · Descender · Diacritics · Counter · Subscript and superscript
Style Serif · Italic · Slab serif · Sans-serif · Blackletter · Script · Dingbat
Punctuation Hanging punctuation · Hyphenation · Curly quotes · En dash · Em dash
Typesetting Type design · Type foundry · Movable type · Calligraphy · Phototypesetting · Letterpress · Typeface · Font · Computer font · Point · Pica · Cicero · Agate · Em · En · Lorem ipsum · Hamburgefonts · Punchcutting · Pangram
Digital typography Font formats · Typesetting software · Character encoding · Rasterization · Hinting
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