Left Parenthesis Upper Hook ⎛

⎛ (U+239B) is a standard Unicode character that you can copy and paste anywhere text is accepted. This page provides a concise reference with safe tips, internal links, and practical guidance so you can use it reliably across apps and platforms.

What it is and where it’s used: Left Parenthesis Upper Hook is part of the Symbols family (block: Miscellaneous Technical). If you need styled or decorative alternatives, try our Fancy Text tool to generate compatible text that works in most modern interfaces.

History & usage: The character LEFT PARENTHESIS UPPER HOOK has the codepoint U+239B. It lives in the Miscellaneous Technical block. It is a punctuation mark used in writing and in code. Its shape resembles a parenthesis with an upper hook. The mark acts as a bracket to set off groups. It also marks parameters in some layouts and commands. It can surround quoted text in certain styles. In practice, writers and developers choose brackets and quotes to separate parts of a sentence or a code fragment. This symbol helps avoid confusion when other characters serve similar roles. It is not a common everyday bracket, but it serves a specific role in technical contexts. When seen, it signals a grouping boundary or a quoted element. People refer to it by its name and by the codepoint. It is part of the broad set of symbols used for technical notation. Knowledge of its use helps with typography and code clarity. It sits among other technical marks that guide how text is read and parsed.

Copy and input: the quickest method is to copy the character here. You can also insert it by its codepoint U+239B in many development tools or editors. Some operating systems provide a character viewer or input palette that lets you search by name or code and insert the glyph into documents.

Display and fallback: if you see an empty box (tofu) or a placeholder rectangle, the active font might not include this codepoint. Switching to a font with broader Unicode coverage or using a fallback font usually fixes the issue. On the web, ensure the page’s font stack includes a general‑purpose fallback.

Related references: browse the Categories for similar characters. When choosing a symbol, prefer the official codepoint for semantic clarity and better compatibility with search, copy, and accessibility tooling.

See our category page for related symbols.