† Dagger Symbol
The dagger (†) is the second footnote mark after the asterisk, and in mathematics the adjoint — the conjugate transpose of a matrix or operator.
Also known as: dagger symbol, obelisk symbol, footnote symbol, dagger keyboard symbol.
Codes
| Symbol | † | |
| Double dagger | ‡ · U+2021 | |
| Unicode | U+2020 | |
| HTML entity (named) | † | |
| HTML entity (decimal) | † | |
| HTML entity (hex) | † | |
| CSS | \2020 | |
| LaTeX | \dagger | |
| Windows Alt code | Alt + 0134 |
How to type † (Dagger Symbol)
Hold Alt and type 0134 on the numeric keypad, then release Alt. The leading zero matters — Alt + 134 gives å, not †. The double dagger ‡ is Alt + 0135.
Press Option + t. (Option + Shift + 7 gives the double dagger ‡, or use Character Viewer and search “dagger”.)
Type 2020, then press Alt + X to convert it to †. Word can also number footnotes with the * † ‡ § sequence instead of digits: References → Footnotes dialog → Number format.
Insert → Special characters, then search “dagger”.
Use \dagger in math mode (A^\dagger for the adjoint). In running text use \dag or \textdagger; \ddagger and \ddag give ‡.
Usage
- As a reference mark, † is the second footnote symbol. The traditional order is * † ‡ § ¶ ‖ — the dagger marks the second note on a page, which is why it shows up in papers that use symbols instead of numbers.
- In linear algebra and quantum mechanics, A† is the adjoint: the conjugate transpose of A. An operator with A† = A is self-adjoint (Hermitian), and it is read aloud as “A dagger”.
- In biology and genealogy, † before a date means “died”, and a dagger beside a species name marks it as extinct.
- Which one to use: † (U+2020) is the reference mark. ✝ (U+271D) is the Latin cross and ✞ (U+271E) its shadowed form — those are religious symbols that render much larger and often in colour. If you are citing a source, you want †, not a cross.