Dig into Unicode's block for miscellaneous symbols at U+2600 and you'll find four astrological symbols for angles. The set covers sextile, semisextile, quincunx, and sesquiquadrate. Once you know what they represent, the visual reasoning behind the shapes snaps into focus.
The shape behind the name
Sextile (⚹, U+26B9) is the friendliest of the four. The name comes from Latin for "sixth"; the symbol looks like a six-pointed star, drawn from three intersecting lines at 60° angles.
Semisextile (⚺, U+26BA) is the top half of a sextile. The angle is half as wide as the sextile's 60°, so 30°. The shape resembles XOR (⊻, U+22BB), but the resemblance is a coincidence — the symbols came from different families.
Quincunx (⚻, U+26BB) represents a 150° angle, the supplement of 30°. Inverting the 30° symbol signals the supplementary angle. The shape also resembles NAND (⊼, U+22BC). Same coincidence as the semisextile.
Sesquiquadrate (⚼, U+26BC) is the most satisfying once you see it. A square plus half a square: 90° + 45° = 135°. The Latin prefix sesqui- means "one and a half," as in sesquicentennial (150th anniversary).
| Symbol | Name | Angle | Naming Logic |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⚹ | Sextile | 60° | Six equal parts (Latin: six) |
| ⚺ | Semisextile | 30° | Half a sextile |
| ⚻ | Quincunx | 150° | Supplement of 30° (upside-down semisextile) |
| ⚼ | Sesquiquadrate | 135° | Right angle + half a right angle |
Why quincunx matters beyond astrology
The word quincunx has a second life in geometry. The Peirce quincuncial projection is a conformal map created by Charles Sanders Peirce — a method that preserves angles. The projection is named after the pattern on the 5 side of a die: four dots in a square plus one in the center.
Anyone who has spent time with map projections encounters "quincuncial" eventually. The same Latin root, the same underlying logic: an arrangement of points that fills a plane when tiled.
Our analysis
These symbols live in the Miscellaneous Symbols block, which is where Unicode stuffs anything without a dedicated home. The set is small, specific, and unlikely to land on your keyboard — but the naming convention makes it easy to reconstruct the meaning from the shape alone.
The visual pattern is consistent: each symbol encodes its angle through simple geometric operations. A quick mental model does the work: "half a sextile for 30°, flip it for 150°, add half a square for 135°." Once you see the rule, the four symbols feel like a coherent set rather than arbitrary glyphs.
The XOR and NAND lookalikes are worth a second look. Two families of Unicode symbols accidentally converging on the same shape is the kind of cross-block collision that font designers and search tools both have to plan around. It also means these symbols can be misidentified by OCR or text recognition software if the training data was heavy on logic symbols and light on astrology.
For mathematicians, the naming reveals the geometry. For astrologers, the geometry reveals the name. For developers, the shape provides a reliable decode key — and the angle mapping (60°, 30°, 150°, 135°) can be stored programmatically if the symbol itself is less useful than the value it represents.
What to watch next
Unicode keeps adding astrology-adjacent symbols as the standard grows. The next batch is unlikely to land in this block; new symbols tend to get their own dedicated range, separate from Miscellaneous Symbols.
Bottom line: four symbols, four angle meanings, one consistent visual logic.
Key takeaways
- The four symbols live in U+26B9 through U+26BC.
- Each encodes its angle through simple geometric operations.
- Sesqui- means "one and a half" in Latin.
- Quincunx traces back to the die pattern of four corners and a center.
Frequently asked questions
Where do these symbols sit in Unicode?
The block is the Miscellaneous Symbols range at U+2600 through U+26FF. The four astrological symbols live at U+26B9, U+26BA, U+26BB, and U+26BC.
Why do some shapes look like logic symbols?
Coincidence. XOR (⊻) at U+22BB and NAND (⊼) at U+22BC share shapes with the semisextile (⚺) and quincunx (⚻) respectively. They come from different Unicode blocks.
What does sesqui- mean?
Latin for "one and a half." A sesquicentennial is a 150th anniversary.
Is the Peirce projection related to astrology?
Only in name. Both "quincunx" usages trace back to the die pattern of four corners and a center.