# Ideographic Description Characters

Ideographic Description Characters is a Unicode block containing graphic characters used for describing CJK ideographs. They are used in Ideographic Description Sequences (IDS) to provide a description of an ideograph, in terms of what other ideographs make it up and how they are laid out relative to one another. An IDS provides the reader with a description of an ideograph that cannot be represented properly, usually because it is not encoded in Unicode; rendering systems are not intended to automatically compose the pieces into a complete ideograph, and the descriptions are not standardized.
U+2FF0 to U+2FFB were introduced from GBK; U+2FFC to U+2FFF were devised later and introduced in Unicode 15.1 (2023).

## Block

Ideographic Description Characters Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) :
| | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F |
| U+2FFx | ⿰ | ⿱ | ⿲ | ⿳ | ⿴ | ⿵ | ⿶ | ⿷ | ⿸ | ⿹ | ⿺ | ⿻ | ⿼ | ⿽ | ⿾ | ⿿ |
| Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 16.0 |||||||||||||||||

## Ideographic Description Sequences

Ideographic Description Sequences are sequences of characters that represent a Chinese character structure as defined by the Unicode standard.
Below are the 16 characters as defined by Unicode in this block:
| Unicode | Symbol | Meaning | Example 1 | IDS | Example 2 | IDS |
| U+2FF0 | ⿰ | Two components combined left to right | 相 | ⿰木目 | 𠁢 | ⿰丨㇍ |
| U+2FF1 | ⿱ | Two components combined above to below | 杏 | ⿱木口 | 𠚤 | ⿱𠂊丶 |
| U+2FF2 | ⿲ | Three components combined left to middle and right | 衍 | ⿲彳氵亍 | 𠂗 | ⿲丿夕乚 |
| U+2FF3 | ⿳ | Three components combined above to middle and below | 京 | ⿳亠口小 | 𠋑 | ⿳亼目口 |
| U+2FF4 | ⿴ | One component fully wrapping another component | 回 | ⿴囗口 | 𠀬 | ⿴㐁人 |
| U+2FF5 | ⿵ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at bottom) | 凰 | ⿵几皇 | 𧓉 | ⿵齊虫 |
| U+2FF6 | ⿶ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at top) | 凶 | ⿶凵㐅 | 义 | ⿶乂丶 |
| U+2FF7 | ⿷ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at right) | 匠 | ⿷匚斤 | 𧆬 | ⿷虎九 |
| U+2FF8 | ⿸ | One component surround top and left side of another component | 病 | ⿸疒丙 | 𤆯 | ⿸耂火 |
| U+2FF9 | ⿹ | One component surround top and right side of another component | 戒 | ⿹戈廾 | 𢧌 | ⿹或壬 |
| U+2FFA | ⿺ | One component surround bottom and left side of another component | 超 | ⿺走召 | 𥘶 | ⿺礼分 |
| U+2FFB | ⿻ | Two components overlapped | 巫 | ⿻工从 | 𣏃 | ⿻木⿻コ一 |
| U+2FFC | ⿼ | One component surround three sides of another component (opening at left) | 㕚 | ⿼叉丶 | 𬺹 | ⿼コ二 |
| U+2FFD | ⿽ | One component surround bottom and right side of another component | 氷 | ⿽水丶 | 斗 | ⿽⺀十 |
| U+2FFE | ⿾ | Horizontal reflection | 卐 | ⿾卍 | 𣥄 | ⿾正 |
| U+2FFF | ⿿ | Rotation | 𠕄 | ⿿凹 | 𠄔 | ⿿予 |
Two other related ideographic description characters are not encoded in this Unicode block, but of which may be used in ideographic description sequences:
| Unicode | Symbol | Block | Meaning | Example 1 | IDS | Example 2 | IDS |
| U+303E | 〾 | CJK Symbols and Punctuation | Variant but not equivalent | 㬵 (U+3B35) | 〾胶 (U+80F6) | 𫜵 | 〾爫 |
| U+31EF | ㇯ | CJK Strokes | Subtraction | 乒 | ㇯兵丶 | 𧰨 | ㇯豕一 |
This is the syntax of IDS in EBNF:

## History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Ideographic Description Characters block:
| Version | Final code points | Count | UTC ID | L2 ID | WG2 ID | IRG ID | Document |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | X3L2/95-111 | N1284 | | Ideographic Structure Symbol (additional request), 1995-11-07 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1303 (html, doc) | | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-01-26), "8.13 Ideographic structure symbols", Minutes of Meeting 29, Tokyo |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1348 | | Ideographic Components and Composition Scheme, 1996-02-05 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1357 | | Revised Ideographic Structure Symbols, 1996-04-12 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1353 | | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-06-25), "9", Draft minutes of WG2 Copenhagen Meeting # 30 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/97-026 | N1494 | | IRG proposal: Ideographic structure character, 1996-06-27 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1430 | N365 | Proposal Summary Form: Ideographic Structure Character, 1996-08-01 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1453 | | Ksar, Mike; Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1996-12-06), "9.6 Ideographic Structure Characters", WG 2 Minutes - Quebec Meeting 31 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/97-023 | N1486 | N437 | IRG #8 Resolutions, 1997-01-16 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1489 | | Supplement to Ideographic Components and Composition Schemes, 1997-01-16 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1490 | N436 | Response to WG2 question on Ideographic Structure Characters, 1997-01-16 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/97-030 | N1503 (pdf, doc) | | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1997-04-01), "9.6", Unconfirmed Minutes of WG 2 Meeting #32, Singapore; 1997-01-20--24 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/97-114 | N1544 (html, doc) | N453 | Sato, T. K. (1997-04-08), Questions on the "Han structure method" described in WG2 N1490 (IRG N436) |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/97-255R | | | Aliprand, Joan (1997-12-03), "4.B.2 Ideographic Structure Characters", Approved Minutes – UTC #73 & L2 #170 joint meeting, Palo Alto, CA – August 4-5, 1997 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1680 | | Project Sub-Division Proposal on Scheme of Ideograph Description Sequence, 1997-12-18 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1782 | | Clause X Ideographic Description Sequence (IDS) – IRG N575, 1998-05-06 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/98-158 | | | Aliprand, Joan; Winkler, Arnold (1998-05-26), "SC2 SC2 Action re Ideographic Description Sequences", Draft Minutes – UTC #76 & NCITS Subgroup L2 #173 joint meeting, Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, April 20-22, 1998 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N1842 | | Proposed text for a Draft for amendment 28 - Ideographic Description Sequences, 1998-06-03 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/98-286 | N1703 | | Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1998-07-02), "9.5", Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes, WG 2 Meeting #34, Redmond, WA, USA; 1998-03-16--20, The original proposal was to use character composition. It has changed from being composition to description over its three year development. |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/98-317 | N1892 (pdf, doc) | | Combined CD registration and consideration ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters, 1998-10-22 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-010 | N1903 (pdf, html, doc) | | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1998-12-30), "10.3", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 35, London, U.K.; 1998-09-21--25 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-072.1 | N1971 | | Irish Comments on SC 2 N 3186, 1999-01-19 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-072 | N1970 (html, doc) | | Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3186, PDAM ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 28: Ideographic description characters, 1999-02-05 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | | N2023 | | Paterson, Bruce (1999-04-06), FPDAM 28 Text - Ideographic Description Characters |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-120 | | | Text for FPDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646, Amd. 28 - Ideographic description characters, 1999-04-07 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | UTC/1999-014 | | | | Jenkins, John (1999-06-01), Recursion depth limit for IDC's |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | UTC/1999-015 | | | | Whistler, Ken (1999-06-01), Re: Brief note on length of ideograph descriptions |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | UTC/1999-020 | | | | Jenkins, John (1999-06-04), Diagram and language [for Ideograph Description Sequences] |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-176R | | | Moore, Lisa (1999-11-04), "Recursion Limit for Ideographic Description Characters", Minutes from the joint UTC/L2 meeting in Seattle, June 8-10, 1999 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-232 | N2003 | | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1999-08-03), "6.1.2 PDAM28 - Ideographic Description Characters", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 36, Fukuoka, Japan, 1999-03-09--15 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-253 | N2067 | | Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3312, ISO 10646-1/FPDAM 28 - Ideographic description characters, 1999-08-19 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-301 | N2123 | | Disposition of Comments Report on SC 2 N 3312, ISO/IEC 10646-1/FPDAM 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters, 1999-09-20 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/99-302 | N2124 | | Paterson, Bruce (1999-09-24), Revised Text for FDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646-1/FDAM 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/00-010 | N2103 | | Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2000-01-05), "6.4.3", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 37, Copenhagen, Denmark: 1999-09-13—16 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/00-045 | | | Summary of FDAM voting: ISO 10646 Amd. 28: Ideographic description characters, 2000-01-31 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/02-221 | N2480 | | Cook, Richard (2002-05-18), Proposal to add Ideographic Description Characters (IDC) to the UCS |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/02-436 | N2534 | N955 | IRG Radical Classification, 2002-11-21 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/12-087 | | | Proposed Changes to ISO/IEC 10646 Annex I, Ideographic Description Characters, 2012-02-09 |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/12-007 | | | Moore, Lisa (2012-02-14), "Consensus 130-C13", UTC #130 / L2 #227 Minutes, Submit L2/12-087 on extensions to ideographic description sequences to WG2. |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/15-065 | | | Jenkins, John (2015-02-02), Proposal to Add IDS Links to Online Unihan Database |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/15-070 | | | Davis, Mark (2015-02-03), IDS in Unihan |
| 3.0 | U+2FF0..2FFB | 12 | | L2/15-313 | | | Lunde, Ken (2015-11-03), Request for IDS Data |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/17-386 | | N2273 | Yang, Tao; Chan, Eiso; Wang, Yifan (2017-10-13), Submission of 3 IDCes |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/17-379 | | | Lunde, Ken (2017-10-20), "Proposed Ideographic Description Characters (IDCs)", IRG #49 Liaison Report |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/18-012 | | | Yang, Tao; Chan, Eiso; Wang, Yifan (2018-01-05), Proposal of Four IDCs |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/18-168 | | | Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Liang, Hai; Chapman, Chris; Cook, Richard (2018-04-28), "22. IDCs", Recommendations to UTC #155 April-May 2018 on Script Proposals |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/21-118R | | N2492 | Lunde, Ken; Jenkins, John H. (2021-08-11), Preliminary proposal to add a new provisional kIDS property (Unihan) |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/22-136 | | | West, Andrew (2022-07-08), Feedback on Proposals to Encode New Ideographic Description Characters |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/22-191 | | N2572 | Lunde, Ken; Jenkins, John; West, Andrew (2022-08-24), Proposal to encode five new Ideographic Description Characters |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/22-227 | | | SAT Feedback to "Preliminary proposal to add a new provisional kIDS property (Unihan)" (IRGN2492) and "Proposal to encode five new Ideographic Description Characters" (IRGN2572), 2022-08-29 |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/22-228 | | | Fan, Ming (2022-09-02), Feedback on IRGN2572 "Proposal to encode 5 new ideograph description characters" |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/22-247 | | | Lunde, Ken (2022-11-01), "29", CJK & Unihan Group Recommendations for UTC #173 Meeting |
| 15.1 | U+2FFC..2FFF | 4 | | L2/22-241 | | | Constable, Peter (2022-11-09), "E.1 29", Approved Minutes of UTC Meeting 173 |
| ↑ Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names ||||||||