Keyboard Symbols Meaning: Complete Guide

Ever looked at your keyboard and wondered what that little symbol above a key actually means? I used to ignore them until I started writing and needed to use all these characters. Turns out, knowing what these symbols are called is surprisingly useful.

Top Row Numbers & Symbols

Those keys above your letters have multiple uses:

• ! — Exclamation mark (Shift + 1)
• @ — At sign (Shift + 2)
• # — Hash or pound sign (Shift + 3)
• $ — Dollar sign (Shift + 4)
• % — Percent (Shift + 5)
• ^ — Caret (Shift + 6)
• & — Ampersand (Shift + 7)
• * — Asterisk (Shift + 8)
• ( — Left parenthesis (Shift + 9)
• ) — Right parenthesis (Shift + 0)
• _ — Underscore (Shift + -)
• + — Plus (Shift + =)

Punctuation Marks

The keys near Enter:

• [ ] — Square brackets
• — Curly braces or curly brackets
• | — Pipe or vertical bar
• \ — Backslash
• / — Forward slash
• : — Colon
• ; — Semicolon
• " ' — Quotation marks

Common But Confusing Symbols

Symbols people often get wrong:

~ Tilde

Pronounced "til-dah." Used in programming and as "approximately" in math (like ~50). Type with Shift + ` (backtick, above Tab).

` Backtick / Grave Accent

Also called grave accent. Used in code and for accent marks (like è). Shift + ` gives you ~.

| Pipe

Called "pipe" because it pipes output in command lines. On most keyboards, it's Shift + \ (backslash key).

§ Section Mark

Used in legal documents to mark sections. Type with Option + 6 on Mac, or Alt + 0167 on Windows.

¶ Pilcrow / Paragraph Mark

Marks paragraphs in legal texts. Type with Option + 7 on Mac, or Alt + 20 on Windows.

Math Symbols on Keyboard

Hidden math symbols:

• ± — Plus-minus (Alt + 0177)
• × — Multiply (Alt + 0215)
• ÷ — Divide (Alt + 0247)
• ≠ — Not equal (Alt + 8800)
• ≤ — Less than or equal
• ≥ — Greater than or equal
• ≈ — Approximately equal

Currency Symbols

Money signs at your fingertips:

• $ — Dollar (Shift + 4)
• € — Euro (Alt + 0128)
• £ — Pound (Alt + 0163)
• ¥ — Yen (Alt + 0165)
• ¢ — Cent (Option + 4 on Mac)
• ₿ — Bitcoin

Trademark & Copyright

Legal symbols:

• © — Copyright (Alt + 0169)
• ® — Registered trademark (Alt + 0174)
• ™ — Trademark (Alt + 0153)
• ℠ — Service mark
• ℡ — Telephone

Why Does This Matter?

Knowing symbol names helps when:

• Searching for how to type something
• Describing problems to tech support
• Writing code or technical documents
• Using math notation
• Understanding keyboard shortcuts

The Bottom Line

Your keyboard is full of symbols beyond just letters and numbers. Once you know what they mean and how to use them, you unlock a whole new level of typing. And now you know what to call that weird squiggle above your Tab key. (It's a backtick, by the way.)