Small asterisk ﹡
A compatibility character that shows a slightly smaller asterisk, mostly in Chinese text.
Small asterisk codes
| Unicode | U+FE61 |
| Official name | SMALL ASTERISK |
| Unicode block | Small Form Variants |
| HTML (hex) | ﹡ |
| HTML (decimal) | ﹡ |
| CSS | content: "\FE61"; |
| JavaScript | "\uFE61" |
| Python | "\N{SMALL ASTERISK}" |
| URL-encoded | %EF%B9%A1 |
| UTF-8 bytes | EF B9 A1 |
How to type ﹡
- Mac: press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer and search for “small asterisk”. Or switch to the Unicode Hex Input keyboard, hold Option and type
FE61. - Windows: in Word, type
FE61and press Alt + X. Windows has no Alt code for this character, so copying it from this page is the fastest route in other apps. - Chromebook and Linux: press Ctrl + Shift + U, type
fe61, then press Space or Enter. - iPhone and Android: copy it from this page, then save it as a text replacement so a short code like
;asttypes it for you. Here's how on iPhone.
What the small asterisk is used for
- Chinese and Taiwanese text that follows the CNS 11643 character standard.
- A subtle, reduced-size asterisk in decorative text.
Good to know
Unicode marks this as a compatibility character: under NFKC normalization (which many search engines and databases apply), it turns into the regular *. That means search engines usually treat it as an ordinary asterisk, and some form fields may silently convert it.
Will it show up? Best supported by Chinese, Japanese and Korean fonts. Western fonts often borrow it from a fallback font.