Religious and spiritual symbols
Faith and spirituality have their own symbols, and many of them are part of Unicode. This page brings together signs from the world’s religions and traditions: Om ॐ and 🕉 from Hinduism, the cross ✝ and ☦ from Christianity, the star and crescent ☪ from Islam, the dharma wheel ☸ from Buddhism, the Star of David ✡ from Judaism, the khanda 🪯 from Sikhism, yin and yang ☯ from Taoism, the peace sign ☮ and many more.
Tap a symbol to copy it for a festival greeting, a prayer message, a study project or your profile.
Symbols of world religions
- Hinduism: ॐ and 🕉 Om, 🛕 Hindu temple, 🪔 diya lamp.
- Islam: ☪ star and crescent, 🕌 mosque, 🕋 Kaaba, 📿 prayer beads.
- Christianity: ✝ Latin cross, ☦ Orthodox cross, ✞ ✟ ✠ decorative crosses, ⛪ church.
- Buddhism: ☸ wheel of dharma, ☸️ emoji, 🪷 lotus.
- Judaism: ✡ Star of David, 🔯 six-pointed star, 🕎 menorah, 🕍 synagogue.
- Sikhism: 🪯 khanda.
- Taoism and others: ☯ yin yang, ⛩ Shinto shrine, ☥ ankh, ☮ peace.
Festival greetings
Religious symbols make festival wishes feel personal. Diwali messages often start with 🪔 and ॐ. Eid greetings use ☪ and 🌙. Christmas wishes include ✝ or ⛪ with 🎄. Hanukkah posts use 🕎 and ✡. Vesak greetings for Buddha’s birthday use ☸ and 🪷, and Gurpurab wishes use 🪯. A single symbol at the start of a message shows care and respect for the occasion.
Respectful use
These symbols are sacred to millions of people, so it is good to use them with care. Use them in greetings, study notes, places of worship and personal profiles that reflect your own beliefs. Avoid using them as jokes or random decoration. If you are not sure what a symbol means, open it with the i button to read its name, or ask someone from that tradition.
Some symbols have more than one history. The swastika 卍 is an ancient sacred sign in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and it is still used respectfully in temples across Asia. Because it was also misused in the twentieth century, think about your audience before you use it.
Symbols for study and teaching
Teachers and students use religious symbols in world religion lessons, history projects and comparison charts. A simple table with each faith, its main symbol and its place of worship is clear and easy to read. Because the symbols are text, they stay sharp when printed and work in Word, Google Docs and slides.
Om in different forms
Om can be typed in a few ways. ॐ is the Devanagari Om sign used in Hindi, Sanskrit and Marathi text. 🕉 is the colourful emoji form. There are also Om signs in other scripts, such as the Tibetan ༀ. Pick the one that fits your message: the text sign for documents and the emoji for chats.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I type the Om symbol?
- Copy ॐ or 🕉 from this page. ॐ is the text form and 🕉 is the emoji form.
- What is the Sikh symbol?
- The khanda 🪯 is the main symbol of Sikhism. It was added as an emoji in 2023, so it needs a recent device.
- What does ☸ mean?
- ☸ is the dharma wheel, a symbol of Buddhism that stands for the Buddha’s teaching.
- What is the difference between ✝ and ☦?
- ✝ is the Latin cross used by many churches. ☦ is the Orthodox cross with extra bars.
- Is ☪ the symbol of Islam?
- The star and crescent ☪ is widely used to represent Islam and appears on many flags, though some Muslims prefer not to treat it as a religious symbol.