The heart is one of the oldest symbols in print and one of the most copied characters on the web. People paste it into bios, messages, cards, usernames and product listings. What many do not realize is that “the heart symbol” is actually several different characters, and which one you pick decides whether it shows up as a small black heart or a big red emoji.
Heart symbols to copy and paste
Click and drag to select any of these, or use Insert Unicode Characters, search for “heart” and copy with one click.
| Symbol | Name | Code point | HTML |
|---|---|---|---|
| ♥ | Black heart suit | U+2665 | ♥ |
| ♡ | White heart suit | U+2661 | ♡ |
| ❤ | Heavy black heart | U+2764 | ❤ |
| ❥ | Rotated heavy black heart bullet | U+2765 | ❥ |
| ❣ | Heavy heart exclamation mark ornament | U+2763 | ❣ |
| ❦ | Floral heart | U+2766 | ❦ |
| ❧ | Rotated floral heart bullet | U+2767 | ❧ |
The first two come from the playing card suits in Unicode’s Miscellaneous Symbols block. The others are dingbats, decorative characters from old printers’ type, which Unicode keeps in its Dingbats block.
Why your heart turns into an emoji
The heavy black heart, ❤, has a double life. On its own it is a plain text character, but most phones and many apps display it as the red heart emoji. That is because Unicode lets some characters have two presentations, text and emoji, and the device chooses.
If you want a guaranteed small, plain heart that follows the color of your text, use ♥ (U+2665). If you want the red emoji, use ❤ and let the device do its thing, or type the emoji from the emoji keyboard, where it is stored as ❤ followed by an invisible variation selector that asks for the emoji style.
How to type a heart on Windows
- Alt code: hold Alt and type 3 on the numeric keypad. You get ♥. This short code comes from the original IBM PC character set, where the four card suits sit at positions 3 to 6: Alt + 4 gives ♦, Alt + 5 gives ♣ and Alt + 6 gives ♠.
- Emoji panel: press the Windows key and the period key, then search for “heart”. This inserts emoji hearts, in color.
- Word: type 2665 and press Alt + X for ♥, or 2661 and Alt + X for ♡.
How to type a heart on a Mac
There is no Option shortcut for a heart. Press Control + Command + Space to open the Character Viewer, type “heart” in the search box and double-click the one you want. The viewer shows emoji first; scroll down or expand it to see the plain text hearts.
If you type a heart often, add a text replacement in System Settings, Keyboard, Text Replacements, for example “<3” to ♥. Note that some apps, such as Messages, already turn <3 into an emoji heart.
How to type a heart on iPhone and Android
Both phones offer hearts on the emoji keyboard, in many colors. For the plain text ♥ or ♡, copy it from this page and save it as a text replacement, or keep it in a note to copy when you need it. Some Android keyboards also have ♥ on one of the symbol pages; on Gboard, look on the second page of symbols.
Hearts in HTML and CSS
On a web page, ♥ gives ♥. For the others, use the numeric entity from the table above, such as ♡ for ♡. In CSS content, write "\2665".
When you want a heart to stay a plain, colored-by-CSS symbol on every device, use ♥ rather than ❤. If you must use ❤ as text, follow it with the text variation selector, ︎, which asks devices to show the text version. Support for this varies between platforms, so ♥ remains the safer choice.
Where hearts cause trouble
- Usernames and file names. Many services reject symbols in usernames, and some older systems cannot store characters outside basic Latin. If a form refuses your heart, that is why.
- Screen readers. A screen reader may read ♥ as “black heart suit” and the emoji as “red heart”. In a long row of decorative hearts, that is a lot of noise. Use one, or none, where accessibility matters.
- Fonts. Decorative hearts like ❦ and ❥ are missing from some fonts and show as empty boxes. The two suit hearts, ♥ and ♡, are much more widely supported.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Alt code for a heart?
Alt + 3 on the numeric keypad gives ♥ in most Windows programs. It is a short code from the original PC character set, where the card suits sit at positions 3 to 6.
Why does my heart symbol show up as a red emoji?
You probably used ❤ (U+2764), which phones and many apps display as the red heart emoji. Use ♥ (U+2665) for a plain text heart that keeps the color of your text.
How do I type an outline heart?
The outline heart is ♡ (U+2661), the white heart suit. Copy it, or type 2661 and press Alt + X in Word. In HTML, write ♡.