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Sparkles Symbol (✨)

Sparkles (✨) is the three-star shine mark — the internet's favourite way to add emphasis, excitement or a touch of magic to a word or name.

✨

Sparkles · U+2728 · Star Symbols

Click the symbol or the button to copy it, then paste it anywhere — documents, messages, bios and code.

Sparkles codes

Code	Value
Unicode code point	`U+2728`
Unicode name	`Sparkles`
HTML named entity	None — use the decimal or hex code below
HTML decimal	`✨`
HTML hex	`✨`
CSS content code	`\2728`
JavaScript / JSON	`\u2728`
Windows Alt code	No standard Alt code — copy it from the card above

Sparkles variants (9)

9 related glyphs — click any tile to copy it. Tiles with a page open that symbol's own page.

★Black Star☆White Star✦Black Four Pointed Star✧White Four Pointed Star✶Six Pointed Black Star✷Eight Pointed Rectilinear Black Star🌟Glowing Star💫Dizzy Symbol⭐White Medium Star

Meaning & usage

The sparkles character is three four-pointed stars, big, medium and small, drawn as one glyph. It started life in the Japanese dingbat tradition and spread worldwide as an emoji, where it now signals anything shiny in spirit: excitement (new job ✨), emphasis with a wink (my ✨ favourite ✨), cleanliness in cleaning-product posts, and — since the AI boom — it has become the unofficial symbol of AI features and 'magic' buttons across apps.

Unlike the plain star ★, ✨ renders in colour on phones, so it reads as decoration rather than maths. Copy it here as a true Unicode character that pastes into any app.

Examples in use

✨ big announcement coming ✨
spring cleaning day ✨🧹 (sparkles = freshly cleaned)
Tap the ✨ button to enhance the photo

How to type the sparkles

Windows

There is no Alt code or direct key for ✨. In Microsoft Word, type 2728 and press Alt+X to convert it. Everywhere else, click the Copy button at the top of this page and paste it (Ctrl+V) — that always works.

Mac

There is no Option-key shortcut for ✨ on a Mac. Open the Character Viewer with Control+Command+Space, search for "Sparkles", and double-click to insert — or copy it from this page.

iPhone & Android

Most phone keyboards have no built-in key for ✨. Open this page on your phone, tap Copy, then paste it into your message or bio. (On Android, Gboard's emoji search finds some symbols by name.)

Linux

Press Ctrl+Shift+U, type 2728 and press Enter (works in most GTK apps and terminals with IBus). Or copy it from this page.

Frequently asked questions

Is ✨ an emoji or a text symbol?

Both: it is a Unicode dingbat (U+2728) that most phones draw as a colour emoji. In plain-text contexts it can also appear in your normal font. Either way it copies and pastes as one character.

What does ✨ mean around a word?

It adds emphasis and a playful, glamorous tone — like saying the word with jazz hands. Around sarcastic words it flips to irony, which is part of the joke.

How do I type ✨ on a keyboard?

There is no keyboard shortcut for it. Copy it from this page, or find it in your phone's emoji keyboard by searching 'sparkles'.

Why does ✨ sometimes show as a box or question mark?

The box (called tofu) means the device or font viewing it has no drawing for U+2728 (Sparkles). The character itself is fine — try a different font or a newer device, or use one of the variants on this page.

Is the Sparkles free to use?

Yes. ✨ is a standard Unicode text character published in the Unicode Character Database. You may use it in personal and commercial documents, designs and products without permission or payment.

Related symbols

★Star Symbol ✡Star of David 🔥Fire