# Zodiac Symbols: The 12 Signs, Their Glyphs and Meanings

> Zodiac symbols explained: what each of the 12 glyphs from ♈ to ♓ depicts, where it comes from, how to type it, and how to read the glyphs in a birth chart.

- Page: https://novaoracles.com/blog/zodiac-symbols
- Language: en
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Each of the 12 zodiac signs has two zodiac symbols: a picture and a glyph. The pictures are the ram, bull, twins, crab, lion, maiden, scales, scorpion, centaur archer, sea goat, water bearer and two fish, and the glyphs run from ♈ to ♓, drawn from horns, claws, arrows and waves. Most of the images are close to 3,000 years old. If you first want to know which sign is yours, the [zodiac sign dates tool](https://novaoracles.com/tools/zodiac-sign-dates) finds it from your birthday.

## Why does every zodiac sign have a symbol?

Every sign has a symbol because each one began as a picture seen in the sky. Over a year the Sun appears to travel once around the heavens on a path astronomers call the ecliptic. Ancient sky watchers tracked the stars along that path and joined them into figures that were easy to remember. Later, astrologers cut the path into 12 equal slices of 30 degrees and named each slice after the figure nearby. That is the 12-sign zodiac still in use today.

The word itself tells the story. "Zodiac" comes from the Greek zodiakos kyklos, the circle of little animals. Eleven of the twelve symbols are living beings, people or animals. The one exception is Libra, the only object in the whole circle. Most people meet the zodiac through personality profiles and compatibility charts, but the images are the oldest layer, older than any horoscope column by thousands of years.

## What are the 12 zodiac symbols and their glyphs?

The table brings together each sign, its picture, its glyph, the Unicode code point, its element and its usual dates. In years when the Sun changes sign close to midnight, a boundary can move by a day.

| Sign | Symbol | Glyph | Unicode | Element | Dates |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Aries | ram | ♈ | U+2648 | fire | March 21 - April 19 |
| Taurus | bull | ♉ | U+2649 | earth | April 20 - May 20 |
| Gemini | twins | ♊ | U+264A | air | May 21 - June 20 |
| Cancer | crab | ♋ | U+264B | water | June 21 - July 22 |
| Leo | lion | ♌ | U+264C | fire | July 23 - August 22 |
| Virgo | maiden with wheat | ♍ | U+264D | earth | August 23 - September 22 |
| Libra | scales | ♎ | U+264E | air | September 23 - October 22 |
| Scorpio | scorpion | ♏ | U+264F | water | October 23 - November 21 |
| Sagittarius | centaur archer | ♐ | U+2650 | fire | November 22 - December 21 |
| Capricorn | sea goat | ♑ | U+2651 | earth | December 22 - January 19 |
| Aquarius | water bearer | ♒ | U+2652 | air | January 20 - February 18 |
| Pisces | two fish | ♓ | U+2653 | water | February 19 - March 20 |

The elements always follow the same order, fire, earth, air, water, and the cycle repeats three times around the circle. The guide to the [zodiac elements](https://novaoracles.com/blog/zodiac-elements-explained) explains what each one stands for.

## Where do the zodiac images come from?

Most of the images come from Mesopotamia. Babylonian astronomers compiled a star catalogue almost 3,000 years ago that is known today by its opening words, MUL.APIN. It lists the constellations "in the path of the Moon", among them the Bull of Heaven, the Great Twins, the Lion, the Scorpion and the Goat Fish. By around the 5th century BCE the Babylonians had already divided that path into 12 equal parts for their astronomical tables.

The Greeks took over the figures and dressed them in myth. The bull became Zeus, who took that form to carry off Europa. The lion became the Nemean lion killed by Heracles. The crab was sent by Hera to nip at the same hero's foot during his fight with the Hydra. The Romans then carried the figures on under Latin names, and English still uses most of them: Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio.

## What does each zodiac symbol mean?

Each symbol has a picture, a story and a glyph. Here they are in order, from Aries to Pisces.

### Aries ♈

The symbol is the ram. The Babylonians called these stars the Hired Man, a farm laborer, and the Greeks saw the ram with the golden fleece from the tale of the Argonauts. The glyph shows two curled horns joined at the base, like a ram's head seen from the front. [Aries](https://novaoracles.com/blog/aries-zodiac-sign) opens the astrological year at the spring equinox.

### Taurus ♉

The symbol is the bull, one of the oldest figures in the sky. The Bull of Heaven appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, and the Pleiades cluster shines on the bull's shoulder. The glyph is a circle with a crescent on top: the round head and the horns. More in the [Taurus](https://novaoracles.com/blog/taurus-zodiac-sign) profile.

### Gemini ♊

The symbol shows twin brothers. The Babylonians spoke of the Great Twins, and the Greeks named them Castor and Pollux, brothers who stayed together even after death. The two brightest stars of the constellation still carry their names. The glyph looks like the Roman numeral II, two upright lines joined at top and bottom. See also [Gemini](https://novaoracles.com/blog/gemini-zodiac-sign).

### Cancer ♋

The symbol is the crab. The glyph shows two small curls facing each other, like a 69 lying on its side, usually read as the crab's claws. Another reading sees the Sun turning back on its path at the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, when [Cancer](https://novaoracles.com/blog/cancer-zodiac-sign) begins.

### Leo ♌

The symbol is the lion, which the Babylonians already saw in these stars. At its heart shines Regulus, the "little king". The glyph is a loop with a long tail, read as either the mane or the tail of the lion. The full portrait is in the [Leo](https://novaoracles.com/blog/leo-zodiac-sign) guide.

### Virgo ♍

The symbol is a young woman holding an ear of wheat. The Babylonians called these stars the Furrow, and the brightest of them is still named Spica, the ear of grain. The Greeks saw Astraea, goddess of justice, the last of the immortals to leave the earth. The glyph is an M whose last stroke curls into a loop; one explanation ties it to the first letters of the Greek parthenos, maiden. Read more about [Virgo](https://novaoracles.com/blog/virgo-zodiac-sign).

### Libra ♎

The symbol is the scales, the only object in the zodiac. The Babylonians already had a balance here, but the Greeks long counted these stars as the claws of the Scorpion, and the Romans brought the scales back. The two brightest stars still carry Arabic names meaning "southern claw" and "northern claw". The glyph draws the beam of the balance above a straight line, though some see the Sun setting on the horizon at the autumn equinox. See [Libra](https://novaoracles.com/blog/libra-zodiac-sign).

### Scorpio ♏

The symbol is the scorpion, with the reddish star Antares at its heart. A Greek myth says the scorpion was sent against the hunter Orion, and the two ended up on opposite sides of the sky: when the Scorpion rises, Orion sets. The glyph is an M whose last stroke ends in a sting. More on [Scorpio](https://novaoracles.com/blog/scorpio-zodiac-sign).

### Sagittarius ♐

The symbol is a centaur, half human and half horse, drawing a bow. For the Babylonians the figure was Pabilsag, a winged archer sometimes drawn with an animal body. The centaur's arrow points toward Antares, the heart of the neighboring Scorpion. The glyph keeps only the arrow, aimed up on a diagonal with a short crossbar. Read about [Sagittarius](https://novaoracles.com/blog/sagittarius-zodiac-sign).

### Capricorn ♑

The symbol is a goat with a fish's tail, perhaps the strangest creature in the zodiac. The Babylonians tied it to Ea, god of fresh water and wisdom, and the Greeks to Pan, who leapt into a river while fleeing the monster Typhon and turned half into a fish. The most common reading of the glyph joins the goat's horn and the curled fish tail in one stroke; another derives it from the first letters of the Greek tragos, goat. See [Capricorn](https://novaoracles.com/blog/capricorn-zodiac-sign).

### Aquarius ♒

The symbol is a man pouring water from a jar. The Babylonians called him the Great One, and the Greeks identified him with Ganymede, cupbearer of the gods. The glyph is two wavy lines, one above the other, like flowing water. Many people trip over this one: Aquarius is an air sign, and the tradition reads the water in the picture as ideas and knowledge shared with others. Details in [Aquarius](https://novaoracles.com/blog/aquarius-zodiac-sign).

### Pisces ♓

The symbol shows two fish tied by a cord, swimming in opposite directions. In a Greek myth, Aphrodite and her son Eros turned into fish to escape Typhon, the same monster Pan was fleeing, and tied themselves together so they would not lose each other. The glyph is two arcs back to back joined by a line: the fish and the cord between them. The cycle closes with [Pisces](https://novaoracles.com/blog/pisces-zodiac-sign).

## How were the glyphs from ♈ to ♓ drawn?

The glyphs are shorthand, pictures reduced to a few strokes. The forms you recognize today settled in Greek and Latin manuscripts of the Middle Ages, and printing made them uniform. Some keep part of the animal: the ram's horns, the bull's head, the scorpion's sting. Others keep an object, such as the arrow or the beam of the scales. A few, like the glyphs of Virgo and Capricorn, have several explanations, and historians have not agreed on a single one.

## How do you type or copy zodiac symbols?

The 12 glyphs live in the Unicode block Miscellaneous Symbols, in order from U+2648 for Aries to U+2653 for Pisces, so they work in messages, documents and social bios. The quickest routes:

- **Phone:** open the emoji keyboard and search for the sign's name, such as "Leo". You get the glyph in a colored square.
- **Mac:** press Control, Command and Space to open the Character Viewer, then search for the sign's name.
- **Windows:** in Microsoft Word, type the code (2648 for Aries) and press Alt and X together. Elsewhere, open the emoji panel with the Windows key and the period key.
- **Web pages:** the HTML entities run from `♈` for Aries to `♓` for Pisces.

One detail explains why the same glyph sometimes looks plain and sometimes appears as a purple tile. Unicode lets a hidden variation selector follow the glyph: U+FE0E asks for the plain text form, U+FE0F for the emoji form. Astrology software usually asks for the text form, which is why a chart wheel shows clean black glyphs. There is also a thirteenth character, ⛎ (U+26CE), for the constellation Ophiuchus. It reached Unicode in 2010 along with the emoji of Japanese phone carriers, and it stands outside the 12 signs. The post on [Ophiuchus and the 13th sign](https://novaoracles.com/blog/ophiuchus-13th-zodiac-sign) tells that story.

## How do the elements and modalities show up as symbols?

The four elements have symbols of their own, borrowed from old alchemy: fire is a triangle pointing up (U+1F702), water a triangle pointing down (U+1F704), air an upward triangle crossed by a line (U+1F701), earth a downward triangle crossed by a line (U+1F703). Many fonts lack these characters, so astrologers often draw them by hand or [use color instead](https://novaoracles.com/blog/zodiac-stones): red for fire, green or brown for earth, yellow for air, blue for water.

The pictures carry the elements too. The fire signs, Aries, Leo and Sagittarius, all show strong animals in motion, and the [fire signs](https://novaoracles.com/blog/fire-signs) post follows them further. The earth signs, Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn, show the field and the mountain: the working animal, the ripe grain, the goat on the rocks ([earth signs](https://novaoracles.com/blog/earth-signs)). The air signs, Gemini, Libra and Aquarius, are the only element without an animal, just two brothers talking, a balance and a person sharing water ([air signs](https://novaoracles.com/blog/air-signs)). The water signs, Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces, are all armored: the crab's shell, the scorpion's plates, the fish's scales ([water signs](https://novaoracles.com/blog/water-signs)).

The three modalities have no classical glyph, yet the images speak for them as well. The cardinal signs, Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, each open a season at an equinox or a solstice. The fixed signs, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius, sit mid-season, and their images echo the four living creatures of Ezekiel's vision (ox, lion, eagle and man), since some traditions give Scorpio an eagle too. The mutable signs, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces, close the seasons, and three of them are double figures: two brothers, a horse and a human in one body, two fish. Old astrologers called them the double signs.

## How do zodiac symbols appear in a birth chart?

In a [birth chart](https://novaoracles.com/tools/birth-chart) the signs usually appear only as glyphs. They run around the outer rim of the wheel, each in its 30-degree slice, and every planet's position is written as degree, glyph and minutes. "14♌22" means 14 degrees and 22 minutes of Leo. The planets have glyphs too: ☉ for the Sun, ☽ for the Moon, ☿ Mercury, ♀ Venus, ♂ Mars, ♃ Jupiter, ♄ Saturn, ♅ Uranus, ♆ Neptune and ♇ Pluto, while ℞ beside a planet marks it as retrograde.

The glyphs are the same in every language, so once you know the twelve you can read a chart printed anywhere. Your chart also holds more symbols than your Sun sign. The Moon, the rising sign and every planet sit in a sign of their own, and the [rising sign table](https://novaoracles.com/blog/rising-sign-table) helps you find the ascendant, which most astrologers rank with the Sun and the Moon as the three key points of a chart. To see how two symbols meet in a relationship, [the most compatible zodiac signs](https://novaoracles.com/blog/most-compatible-zodiac-signs) sets them side by side by element and angle.

## Do the zodiac signs still match the constellations?

Not exactly. Precession, a slow wobble of the Earth's axis, moves the spring equinox backward through the stars by one degree in roughly 72 years. In the two thousand years or so since the signs were named, it has shifted almost a full sign's width. Western astrology ties the signs to the seasons, so Aries still begins at the spring equinox whatever stars sit behind the Sun, and your sign stays your sign. The constellations also vary in size, while the signs are equal slices.

## What does the symbol of your sign tell you?

The symbol of your sign is a starting point, an image the tradition links to the time of year when the Sun passes through that sign. Aries speaks of beginnings, Libra of weighing, Pisces of ties that reach past every border. These pictures help you remember what the tradition stresses for each sign and spot it quickly in any chart, and the choices you make with them stay yours. For the wider picture of the 12 signs and the sky behind them, the [zodiac fundamentals guide](https://novaoracles.com/guides/zodiac-fundamentals) brings it all together.

## FAQ

### What are the 12 zodiac symbols?

The 12 zodiac symbols are the ram (Aries ♈), the bull (Taurus ♉), the twins (Gemini ♊), the crab (Cancer ♋), the lion (Leo ♌), the maiden with an ear of wheat (Virgo ♍), the scales (Libra ♎), the scorpion (Scorpio ♏), the centaur archer (Sagittarius ♐), the sea goat (Capricorn ♑), the water bearer (Aquarius ♒) and the two fish (Pisces ♓).

### How do I type zodiac symbols?

The glyphs sit in Unicode from U+2648 (♈ Aries) to U+2653 (♓ Pisces). On a phone, search the emoji keyboard for the sign's name. On a Mac, open the Character Viewer with Control, Command and Space. In Microsoft Word on Windows, type the code, such as 2648, and press Alt and X together to turn it into the glyph.

### Where do the zodiac symbols come from?

Most of the images come from Babylonian star lore, where the stars along the paths of the Sun and Moon already carried names such as the Bull of Heaven, the Lion and the Scorpion. The Greeks added their myths and the Romans passed the figures on in Latin. The short glyphs from ♈ to ♓ settled much later, in medieval manuscripts.

### Which zodiac sign is the only one without a living creature?

Libra is the only zodiac sign whose symbol is an object. Every other sign shows a person or an animal, from the ram to the two fish. The scales stand at the autumn equinox in the Northern Hemisphere, when day and night are close to equal, and the tradition reads the sign through ideas of weighing and balance.