SYM·0087 · Capitulum
Pilcrow
the mark that left a hole behind
- Unicode
- U+00B6 pilcrow sign · reversed U+204B
- Meaning
- The start of a new paragraph, marked rather than implied.
- History
- From capitulum, a little head or chapter: a C with a vertical stroke, drawn by rubricators in red after the main text was written. Space was left for them in the copied text — and when the rubricator was skipped, ran out of time, or was never paid, the space stayed empty. The modern paragraph indent is the shape of a pilcrow that never arrived.
- Variants
- Filled or open bowl; single or double stem.
- Related
- § Section, its partner in the apparatus.
- Appears
- Legal drafting, style manuals, and the formatting-marks toggle in every word processor.
- Evolution
- Chapter mark → editorial instruction → an invisible control character, with its absence still shaping every page you read.
Sources · 3
- documented The capitulum derivation, and the rubrication practice, in the book-history literature.
- documented Keith Houston, Shady Characters, 2013, for the pilcrow’s descent and its vestige in the indent.
- documented The Unicode Standard, U+00B6 PILCROW SIGN.