# Circle symbols: ◎○●



## AnubisMarco

Hi!
I'm wondering, what do mean the circles of different colours in a Japanese text?

I just was writing the word "Maru(i)" (Circle) in a word processor, and, besides the kanji, appeared some circles in different colours.

I captured the image because when I copy them to here, don't look good:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c396/AnubisMito/circ.jpg


What are them??
I just saw the black one in a manga after the kanji 道... But I guessed it was like "a Random street/way".


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## lammn

They are all signs, or symbols.

○　白丸（しろまる）open circle/white circle
●　黒丸（くろまる）filled circle/black circle
◎　二重丸（にじゅうまる）double circle


Among the three, ○ is used most frequently. Its usage includes (but not limited to):
It means "correct" (as opposed to ×, which means "wrong").
It can be used as on "omission mark". eg. ○○ホテル is equivalent to "______ Hotel" in English.
It means "good".
It represents a "ball".
It indicates "fine weather" in weather report.
It can be used in a map to indicate some place/building.
● can be either black or in other colors. It is often used as opposed to ○ to emphasize the difference. I don't often see the black circle. All I know is that it indicates "rainy" in a weather report.

I don't often see ◎ as well. The only time I saw it is in a joke written by my friend.
In weather report, it indicates "cloudy".

This topic is real cool. I would like to hear from the other people the many more usages of the above symbols.  ← (does this emoticon also look like a maru?)


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## holynightfever

In the children's book I am (v. slowly) reading, the filled black circle appears above 'chi' when it refers to blood.

I guess this is because the book is written entirely in kana and the maru helps to distinguish the word for blood more easily, since it is the main topic of the book.


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## lammn

holynightfever said:


> In the children's book I am (v. slowly) reading, the filled black circle appears above 'chi' when it refers to blood.


 
That's interesting. But I think ● (red maru) would be more appropriate than a black one.


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## holynightfever

Very true, I guess the printers were being economical with their coloured inks


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## Flaminius

Ah, *holynightfever*, this is 傍点 for emphasis.  You happened to see ち marked by one but anything can be highlighted by ・ (centre dot) or 、 (Japanese comma).

*lammn*,  ○ (白星) can be used for a victory in a list of match results (星取表).  Sumo and shogi are typical games that use a 星取表.  Similarly *●* (黒星) is a defeat in a 星取表.

◎ doesn't seem to have many official usages but I often see it used in mobile phone emails.  They can mean "very good" but often they are mere decorations.


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## holynightfever

Thought it was something like that, thanks!


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## Franzi

Wikipedia is a good resource too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_typographic_symbols
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_punctuation

I assume the dot next to 'chi' was the "side dot" described in the first link above.

Here's another useful site that was linked from one of those Wikipedia pages:
http://www.jekai.org/entries/aa/00/nn/aa00nn88.htm


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## holynightfever

Good links.

Actually the dot is directly above the character. Impossible to recreate here really, but kind of like:

*●
*ち


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## Franzi

holynightfever said:


> Good links.
> 
> Actually the dot is directly above the character. Impossible to recreate here really, but kind of like:
> 
> *●*
> ち


 
Yes, that's the "side dot" mentioned on the Wikipedia page.  It's on the side if the writing is vertical and above the kanji if the writing is horizontal. I've seen it in lots of manga and kids' stories.


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## holynightfever

Oh, perhaps I should've read the full description


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## AnubisMarco

wow!! that's really interesting, and thank you for the links and replies.
As I did read at Wikipedia:

About black and white points:

Adding these dots to the sides of characters emphasizes the character in question. It is the Japanese equivalent of the use of italics for emphasis in English.

So, where appeared this point in this manga ~●道

is saying "__way/street"_


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## lammn

Thanks Flaminius and Franzi for the useful info!
The information are highly interesting, in particular the × rating of movies. 

I forgot to mention that ◎○● can also be used in 顔文字 (emoticon).

I want to raise a question:
Is 傍点 smaller in _size_ than ●(黒丸)？


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## Franzi

lammn said:


> I want to raise a question:
> Is 傍点 smaller in _size_ than ●(黒丸)？


 
When I've seen these used in manga, yes, but looking online, I see examples that are about the same size.  Maybe it depends on the font.


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## lammn

I see.  Thanks Franzi!


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## kewongjapan

Really interesting to read the use of the other dots used in Japanese. I have not come across the two dots version yet. This has not been mentioned yet, but the use of the black dot (•) is also used very commonly in CD & DVD packaging (case, tracklisting, obi strip or lyric sheet) where the titles are written in Katakana. This is to easily distinguish the separate english words for those who are not very familiar with english.

For example, Texas' album 'Careful What You Wish For'
In the album title and tracklisting, this song is written as:
ケアフル・ホワット・ユー・ウィッシュ・フォー


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## lammn

kewongjapan said:


> This has not been mentioned yet, but the use of the black dot (•) is also used very commonly in CD & DVD packaging (case, tracklisting, obi strip or lyric sheet) where the titles are written in Katakana. This is to easily distinguish the separate english words for those who are not very familiar with english.
> 
> For example, Texas' album 'Careful What You Wish For'
> In the album title and tracklisting, this song is written as:
> ケアフル・ホワット・ユー・ウィッシュ・フォー


 
Hi kewongjapan,

The "black dot" you are talking about should be called the "middle point"（中点）.

As for lyric sheet, I have also seen ○○○○ and ×××× somewhere among a lyric sheet to indicate the beats not sung by the singer (i.e. instrumental).
I think the Japanese people are really creative in using the symbols.


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## Mugi

> I don't often see ◎ as well. The only time I saw it is in a joke written by my friend.


In business documentation ◎ is used often in reports to indicate a high level of goal/target attainment (usually 80-100% attainment) as opposed to ○, which means "satisfactory attainment" (perhaps 60-80%), as opposed to △, which means "partial attainment" (40-60%?), as opposed to ×, not considered attained (less than 40%?). In proposals, ◎ means "strongly recommended", ○ means "recommended", △ means "not really recommended, but a possibility" and × means "not recommended".


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## lammn

Thanks for the explanation of the business usage of ◎○△×, Mugi-san!　

A few days after I wrote my previous post, I have also seen the use of ◎○△× in my Japanese textbook, indicating the possibility/appropriateness of using the conditional form と、たら、のだったら、ば、（の）なら as follows:

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　と　　たら　　のだったら　　ば　　（の）なら
Absolute certainty that
the result will happen if 
condition is fulfilled　　　　　　　◎　　　○　　　　×　　　○　　　　×
　　
The result is likely to happen 
if condition is fulfilled　　　　　　△　　　○　　　　○　　　○　　　　○

（Note: In order to save space, I show part of the table only)


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