A check or check mark (
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
), checkmark (
Philippine English
Philippine English (similar and related to American English) is any variety of English native to the Philippines, including those used by the media and the vast majority of educated Filipinos and English learners in the Philippines from adja ...
), tickmark (
Indian English
Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. ...
) or tick (
Australian,
New Zealand English
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...
, and
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...
) is a mark (✓, ✔, etc.) used, primarily in the English-speaking world, to indicate the concept "yes" (e.g. "yes; this has been verified", "yes; that is the correct answer", "yes; this has been completed", or "yes; this
tem or optionapplies"). The
x mark
An X mark (also known as an ex mark or a cross mark or simply an X or ex or a cross) is used to indicate the concept of negation (for example "no, this has not been verified", "no, that is not the correct answer" or "no, I do not agree") as well ...
is also sometimes used for this purpose (most notably on election
ballot papers
A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...
, e.g. in the United Kingdom), but otherwise usually indicates "no", incorrectness, or failure. One of the earliest usages of a check mark as an indication of completion is on ancient Babylonian tablets "where small indentations were sometimes made with a stylus, usually placed at the left of a worker's name, presumably to indicate whether the listed ration has been issued."
As a verb, to check (off) or tick (off) means to add such a mark. Printed forms, printed documents, and computer software (see
checkbox
A checkbox (check box, tickbox, tick box) is a graphical widget that permits the user to make a binary choice, i.e. a choice between one of two possible mutually exclusive options. For example, the user may have to answer 'yes' (checked) or 'n ...
) commonly include squares in which to place check marks.
International differences
The check mark is a predominant affirmative symbol of convenience in the English-speaking world because of its instant and simple composition. In other language communities, there are different conventions.
It is common in Swedish schools for a to indicate that an answer is incorrect, while "R", from the Swedish , i.e., "correct", is used to indicate that an answer is correct.
In Finnish, ✓ stands for , i.e., "wrong", due to its similarity to a slanted v. The opposite, "correct", is marked with
, a slanted vertical line emphasized with two dots (also see
commercial minus sign).
In Japan, the
O mark
An O mark, also known as Marujirushi () in Japan and Gongpyo (, ball mark) in Korea, is the name of the symbols "◯" or "⭕" used to represent affirmation in East Asia, similar to its Western equivalent of the checkmark. Its opposite is the X ...
is used instead of the check mark, and the X or ✓ mark are commonly used for wrong.
In the Netherlands a 'V' is used to show that things are missing while the
flourish of approval (or ''krul'') is used for approving a section or sum.
Unicode
Unicode
Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
provides various check marks:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
*
Bracket
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...
*
O mark
An O mark, also known as Marujirushi () in Japan and Gongpyo (, ball mark) in Korea, is the name of the symbols "◯" or "⭕" used to represent affirmation in East Asia, similar to its Western equivalent of the checkmark. Its opposite is the X ...
*
Tally marks
*
Thumbs signal
A thumb signal, usually described as a thumbs-up or thumbs-down, is a common hand gesture achieved by a closed fist held with the thumb extended upward or downward in approval or disapproval, respectively. These gestures have become metaphors ...
*
X mark
An X mark (also known as an ex mark or a cross mark or simply an X or ex or a cross) is used to indicate the concept of negation (for example "no, this has not been verified", "no, that is not the correct answer" or "no, I do not agree") as well ...
References
External links
Checkmarkat Fileformat.info
Checkmarkat Unicode-Table.com
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Pictograms
Symbols
Typographical symbols