Wingdings

Microsoft symbol typeface

Wingdings is a font that renders letters and numbers as symbols—arrows, checkmarks, stars, hands, geometric shapes, and other pictographs.

Developed by Microsoft in the 1990s, it's used for decorative elements and simple icons in documents.

Someone typing in Wingdings produces strings of symbols instead of readable text: The email was all Wingdings—completely illegible.

font

typeface

Lettering style design

dingbatDecorative printing symbol
WebdingsDecorative symbol typeface
glyphsCarved symbolic figures

characters · typography · Microsoft · special characters · TrueType · display font · bullet points

symbols

pictogram

Symbol using visual likeness

iconsRepresentative small images
arrowsShafted projectiles for bows
checkmarksSymbols indicating approval

scissors · telephone · envelope · mailbox · hourglass · skull · smiley · stars · hearts · crosses

communication

secret message

Covert transmitted information

substitutionExchange of one for another
illegibleCannot be read
unreadableCannot be deciphered

gibberish · garbled · scrambled · hidden meaning · puzzle · decoder

decorative

ornament

Thing that beautifies

flourishTo grow vigorously
borderOuter edge or limit
dividerThing that partitions

bullet · embellishment · fleuron · vignette · section break · separator · accent

Categories

invented speechgibberish, gobbledygook, double-talk, jabberwocky, mumbo jumbo

Opposites

readability/legibility

Wingdingsplain text

Unencoded readable characters

Roman alphabet · Latin script · body text

font purpose

WingdingsTimes New Roman

Traditional serif typeface

Arial · Helvetica · plain text · Georgia · Calibri

semantic content type

WingdingsLatin alphabet

Standard Western letter system

Roman letters · ASCII text

Family

wing, wings, winged, winging, wingspan, wingless, ding, dings, dinged

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Concrete · Rated G