Infinity symbol ∞ — copy, type and paste

The infinity symbol ∞ is a single Unicode character, U+221E, so it copies into a bio, a document, a tattoo mock-up or a display name and stays there. No image, no font to install.

There are two versions and they behave differently. ∞ is a mathematics symbol and plain text — it takes the colour of your words and passes most name filters. ♾️ is the emoji, and its actual Unicode name is PERMANENT PAPER SIGN, because it was encoded to mark archival paper long before anyone used it to mean forever. Everything below is listed with its real code point, read from the Unicode character database.

How to use the infinity symbol

• Bio: ∞ beside a name reads as “forever” without a word.
• Couple names: a name, ∞, then the other name.
• Maths and notes: ∞ is the correct character — not a sideways 8.
• Strict fields: use ∞, not ♾️ — the emoji is the one that gets stripped.

Option+5 types ∞ directly on a Mac. On Windows it is 221E then Alt+X in Word, or Alt+8734 on the keypad.

Every infinity character and how to type it

The symbol has one job in mathematics and a completely different one in a bio, and the two forms are not the same character.

How to type it. In Word or Outlook type 221E and press Alt+X. On Windows, Alt+8734 on the numeric keypad. On a Mac, Option+5 gives ∞ directly. On a phone there is no shortcut — copy it from the grid above.

∞ text or ♾️ emoji — which one you actually want

There are two of them and the difference catches people out.

• ∞ (U+221E) is text. A mathematics symbol. It takes the colour of the words around it and passes almost every username filter.
• ♾️ (U+267E) is the emoji. Its formal Unicode name is PERMANENT PAPER SIGN — it was encoded to mark paper that will not degrade, and only later picked up an emoji presentation. It is a fixed-colour picture, so name fields that strip emoji strip it.

If you want a loop that survives a game name, use ∞. If you want one that stays the same colour everywhere, use ♾️. The rule is the same one behind the green ✅ and the black ✔.

Type ∞ on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android

There is no ∞ key on any keyboard, so every route below is either a code or a shortcut. Pick the one for your device.

The Text Replacement trick is the one worth setting up if you use ∞ often on a phone — it turns three letters into the symbol in every app, permanently.

Infinity and heart combos ∞♡

The most copied pairing on this page is the loop next to a heart — a couple bio in two characters. All of these are plain text except where an emoji is named, so they survive a display name.

Every heart character, in every colour and with its code point, is on heart symbols; the ways people write love without a heart are on love symbols.

Why ♾ sometimes shows as a box

If ♾ arrives as an empty rectangle, nothing is broken. That device has no font covering U+267E, so it has no picture to draw.

It happens more with ♾️ than with ∞ for a simple reason: U+221E is an old mathematics character that essentially every font ships, while U+267E only gained an emoji presentation later, so older phones and older apps may know the character but have no emoji glyph for it. The text arrives intact either way — paste it somewhere else and it will show.

Practical rule: if the audience might be on old devices, use ∞. The full explanation of empty rectangles covers why this happens to any character, not just this one.

Where ∞ came from — John Wallis, 1655

∞ is not an ancient symbol. The mathematician John Wallis introduced it in 1655, in his treatise on conic sections, as shorthand for a quantity without limit. Nobody recorded why he chose that shape; the usual explanations — a Roman numeral for a very large number, or a sideways figure eight — are later guesses rather than anything Wallis wrote down.

Its romantic use is far newer and has no mathematical basis at all: the loop that never ends reads as “forever”, which is how it ended up in couple bios and on jewellery. That is a borrowed meaning, not a defined one — the same way ღ and ꨄ became love symbols despite being ordinary letters.

Forever lines and combos

Ready-made lines built around the loop. Tap to copy the whole thing.

Use sparkle dividers to break the line around one.

Kaomoji to pair with ∞

The loop on its own is a statement; a small face beside it sets the tone. These are kaomoji — built from ordinary letters, so they paste wherever ∞ does.

More faces: kawaii kaomoji.

Symbol meanings