How to type Circled Times
To type Circled Times (⊗), press Alt + 8855 on Windows, holding Alt while typing the digits on the numeric keypad, or write ⊗ in HTML. On any system you can copy it from this page, or enter its codepoint U+2297 directly: Ctrl+Shift+U then 2297 on Linux, or 2297 then Alt+X in Microsoft Word.
Circled Times
- Copy it
- Unicode
- U+2297
- Windows
- Alt + 8855 needs regedit
| Where | Shortcut | How |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Alt + 8855 | Above 255, so Windows will not accept it as typed. Copy the character instead. |
| Mac | N/A | Press the keys together. |
| HTML | ⊗ | Paste this into HTML source. |
| Unicode | U+2297 | CIRCLED TIMES |
Symbols related to Circled Times
These are filed under product, times and circled in CLDR, the keyword list Unicode publishes alongside the names.
Other math symbols
⊗ lives in the Mathematical Operators block (U+2200-U+22FF), the core set of mathematical and logical operators. Within Unicode it is classified as Sm, a mathematical symbol. Software may lay it out with the spacing an operator expects.
What Circled Times is used for
In mathematical notation ⊗ is a binary operator: it takes one operand on each side, and TeX sets a medium space either side of it so that the three parts read as a single expression rather than as three symbols in a row. That is the classification unicode-math gives it, and it is what decides how the symbol is set: $\otimes$ in LaTeX, in maths mode rather than in a sentence.
Unicode publishes a second list of names for ⊗ in CLDR, the keywords its own search data offers rather than the formal name, and they are product and tensor. Those words are what somebody looking for this character is liable to type when Circled Times is not the name they know it by, and the search on the symbol lists matches them as well as the Unicode name.
What Unicode says about Circled Times
The standard recognises ⊗ under other names as well: tensor product, vector pointing into page. Those are a formal alias, not a nickname, which is why they turn up in other people's documentation for the same codepoint.
The code chart points from ⊗ to circled crossing lanes (U+26D2), n-ary circled times operator (U+2A02), circled x (U+2BBE) and lot of fortune (U+1F774). These are the characters the standard thinks you might have meant instead, which makes them the ones worth checking when Circled Times looks nearly right but not quite.
How Circled Times behaves in software
⊗ takes one column in a terminal. It carries no direction of its own, so in a line that mixes English with Arabic or Hebrew it takes the direction of the text around it rather than forcing one.
What people ask about Circled Times
What does double time mean in music?
⊗ is CIRCLED TIMES, encoded at U+2297. It is distinct from circled crossing lanes (U+26D2) and n-ary circled times operator (U+2A02), which the chart lists beside it precisely because they are confused for one another.
How to type times symbol on keyboard?
You can press Alt + 8855 on Windows, with Num Lock on and the digits typed on the numeric keypad. That produces ⊗.
Every way to write Circled Times
| Form | Value |
|---|---|
| Codepoint | U+2297 |
| Decimal | 8855 |
| UTF-8 bytes | E2 8A 97 |
| UTF-16 bytes | 22 97 |
| HTML entity | ⊗ |
| HTML numeric | ⊗ or ⊗ |
| CSS | \2297 |
| JavaScript | \u2297 |
| Python | \u2297 |
| URL-encoded | %E2%8A%97 |
| LaTeX, in maths mode | $\otimes$ |
| SVG | 2297.svg · (SIL Open Font License) |
If ⊗ arrives as ⊗
Its three UTF-8 bytes E2 8A 97 are being read one at a time as Windows-1252. The text is undamaged; the reader has to be told it is UTF-8.