A gender symbol is a symbol used to denote the sex of a life form or the gender of a human being.

Contents 1 Original gender symbols 2 Other gender-related symbols 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Original gender symbols

The two original gender symbols are derived from astronomical symbols. They were first used to denote the effective gender of plants (i.e. sex of individual in a given crossbreed, since most plants are hermaphroditic) by Carolus Linnaeus in 1751. ^[1]

	From the symbol of Mars (U+2642 ♂). The symbol for a male organism or man.
	From the symbol of Venus (U+2640 ♀). The symbol for a female organism or woman.

[edit] Other gender-related symbols

Numerous variations of gender symbols have been developed, including:

	From the symbol of Mercury (U+263F ☿). The symbol for an intersexual or hermaphroditic organism.
	From the female and male symbols (U+26A5 ⚥). Intersexual or transgender.
	Another transgender symbol, a combination of the male and female sign with a third, combined arm representing transgender people (Unicode: U+26A7 ⚧).

Other gender symbols in Unicode 4.1+:

⚢ (U+26A2)

Double female sign, sometimes used as a female homosexual symbol

⚣ (U+26A3)

Double male sign, sometimes used as a male homosexual symbol

⚤ (U+26A4)

Interlocked male and female sign, occasionally used as a heterosexual symbol

⚦ (U+26A6)

Male with stroke sign, used as a symbol for transgendered.

⚨ (U+26A8)

Vertical male with stroke sign

⚩ (U+26A9)

Horizontal male with stroke sign

⚪ (U+26AA)

Medium white circle base, used as a symbol for asexuality, sexless or genderless

⚲ (U+26B2)

Neuter

[edit] See also

• Astrological symbols
• LGBT symbols

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gender symbols

• Decode Unicode, showing all Unicode symbols