Check Marks
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What is a checkmark?

Check marks or ticks are used to show something is correct, chosen, complete, or verified.

The tick ✔ comes from the letter V in the latin word “veritas” which means truth.

Unlike other symbols, there’s not a lot going on with these, so once you’ve read this article, you’ll know everything worth knowing about checkmarks and similar symbols.

When to use a checkmark?

Exams and Quizzes

Exams and quizzes are often marked with ticks and crosses.

Though using a tick ✔ to mean correct is not universal.

Japan and Korea use circles ⭕ for a correct answer, and a slash /, cross ✘, or tick ✓ for an incorrect answer.

The Netherlands, Indonesia, South Africa and Suriname use the flourish of approval for correct answers. (sadly there is no unicode symbol for this)

Finland and Sweden both use a tick mark to mean incorrect.

Ballots

Ballot papers use check boxes — a box with a cross or tick — to denote a chosen candidate, party or measure. An empty box is left for unchosen items.

To-do lists

To-do lists often use a check mark to mean that an item is complete. Crosses ✘, and strikethroughs are also used. If you’d like to use strikethrough text, checkout the strikethrough generator.

What do 💯 and 💮 mean?

You might be wondering why these emojis appear on this page, or why they’re part of emoji at all. Both evoke nostalgia in Japan — the birth place of emoji — where they’re used to mark school work.

💯 One Hundred Points Symbol

This one simply means you got full marks, or 100%.

💮 Hanamaru

Hanamaru is a stamp or drawing a teacher would use on a particularly good piece of work. Sometimes this emoji is rendered with the phrase “you did very well” and sometimes as the drawn version — a scribbled spiral with petals drawn around it.

Check marks alt-codes 💤