An O mark, known as marujirushi (丸印) or maru (丸) in Japan and gongpyo (공표(空標), ball mark) in Korea, is the name of the symbol "◯", a circle or used to represent affirmation in East Asia, similar to its Western equivalent of the checkmark ("✓"). Its opposite is the X mark ("✗" or "×").
It is common in Japan to employ other symbols to express non-binary grading beyond just "yes/no" or "right/wrong." A bullseye (nijūmaru 二重丸) "◎" is often used for "excellent," while a triangle (sankaku 三角) "△" means "so-so" or "partially applicable." This "◎-○-△-×" system is widely known in Japan, and can be used without explanation. Other ad-hoc usages exist, but they require legends explaining every symbol’s meaning.
The hanamaru (花丸) is a variant of the O mark. It is typically drawn as a spiral surrounded by rounded flower petals, suggesting a flower. It is frequently used in praising or complimenting children, and the motif often appears in children's characters and logos.
The hanamaru is frequently written on tests if a student has achieved full marks or an otherwise outstanding result. It is sometimes used in place of an O mark in grading written response problems if a student's answer is especially good. Some teachers will add more rotations to the spiral the better the answer is.
Unicode provides various related symbols, including:
| Symbol | Unicode code point (hex) | Name |
|---|---|---|
| ○ | U+25CB | WHITE CIRCLE |
| ◎ | U+25CE | BULLSEYE |
| ● | U+25CF | BLACK CIRCLE |
| ◯ | U+25EF | LARGE CIRCLE |
| ⭕︎ | U+2B55 | HEAVY LARGE CIRCLE |
| ⭕️ | ||
| 🙆️ | U+1F646 | FACE WITH OK GESTURE |
U+2B55 ⭕ HEAVY LARGE CIRCLE has both text and emoji presentations, as shown in the table. It defaults to emoji presentation.
The emoji U+1F4AE 💮 WHITE FLOWER looks similar to hanamaru, although it represents a rubber stamp commonly used to grade students' written answers and is not usually recognized as hanamaru.
