Backhand Index Pointing Up Emoji

An index finger pointing upward, showing the back of the hand. 👆 is the digital equivalent of tapping the message above and saying "this." It points people to something already said, written, or posted.

But the gesture is older than texting, older than the internet, older than the printing press. Manicules, hand-drawn pointing fingers in the margins of medieval manuscripts, date back to at least the 12th century. Between the 12th and 18th centuries, manicules were the most common annotation symbol produced by readers. Monks and scribes drew them next to passages they wanted to flag: "look here, this matters." 👆 does the same thing in your group chat, nine centuries later.

In art history, the upward-pointing finger has even older significance. Leonardo da Vinci painted St. John the Baptist with a raised index finger so frequently that the gesture became known as "The John Gesture" in art scholarship, a symbol of divine revelation and the kingdom of heaven above.

Approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as WHITE UP POINTING BACKHAND INDEX. Part of the four-direction pointing set: 👆👇👈👉.

Twitter/X replies. 👆 as a standalone reply under a tweet means "this" or "read the post above." It became one of the most common forms of low-effort endorsement on the platform, a way to cosign someone's take without adding words. Some people find it lazy; others see it as efficient. Either way, it's shorthand for "I agree so strongly I don't need to elaborate."

Texting. "See above 👆" or just a standalone 👆 after someone makes a good point. Functional and direct. In group chats, it cuts through noise by pointing to a specific earlier message.

Religious contexts. Pointing upward toward heaven is one of the most recognized faith gestures in the world. Athletes do it after scoring (Kaka, Messi, Neymar all point to the sky after goals as gratitude to God or tribute to deceased loved ones). In texts, "Only He knows 👆" or "Blessed 👆🙏" are common in faith-based messaging.

Instagram and TikTok. Used to point at content above: captions, pinned comments, or bio links. "Link above 👆" in stories and posts directs attention upward. The whole link-in-bio industry was built partly on pointing emojis guiding followers to click.

Workplace Slack. "Per the above 👆" or "See thread 👆" is common and professional. One of the less risky emojis for work communication.

The pointing finger has been telling humans where to look for nearly a thousand years.

The earliest known manicules appear in the Domesday Book of 1086, a survey of land ownership in England and Wales. By the 12th century, monks and scribes were routinely drawing pointing hands in manuscript margins to flag important passages. According to Atlas Obscura, the manicule became "the most common symbol produced by readers" between the 12th and 18th centuries, beating out stars, crosses, and underlines. Each reader's manicule was a little signature: some were simple two-stroke doodles, others had elaborate lace cuffs and anatomically questionable fingers.

When movable type arrived, printers cast manicules as metal type blocks. By the 19th century, the pointing hand was a standard typographic ornament used in advertisements and signage. The symbol survived into the digital era: Unicode 1.1 (1993) included ☝️ (the palm-side version) in the Dingbats block. The backhand version, 👆, arrived in Unicode 6.0 in 2010 as part of the Japanese carrier emoji unification, joining the directional set that also gave us 👇👈👉.

The religious angle is even older. In Renaissance painting, the upward-pointing finger meant "God is above." Leonardo da Vinci painted St. John the Baptist with a raised index finger so many times that art historians call it "The John Gesture". And Michelangelo's Creation of Adam on the Sistine Chapel ceiling (1508-1512) made two nearly-touching index fingers the most iconic pointing image in Western art.

Approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as U+1F446U+1F446 WHITE UP POINTING BACKHAND INDEX. The "white" in the original name referred to the outlined style of the glyph (vs. a filled "black" version), not skin color. Added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. Skin tone variants added in Emoji 2.0 (2015). Part of the four-direction pointing set: 👆 (U+1F446U+1F446), 👇 (U+1F447U+1F447), 👈 (U+1F448U+1F448), 👉 (U+1F449U+1F449).

1. 1086Earliest known manicules (pointing hands) appear in the Domesday Book of England
2. 1508Michelangelo paints the Creation of Adam, featuring the most famous pointing fingers in art↗
3. 1993Unicode 1.1 encodes ☝️ (Index Pointing Up) in the Dingbats block
4. 2010Unicode 6.0 adds 👆 (U+1F446) as WHITE UP POINTING BACKHAND INDEX↗
5. 2015Added to Emoji 1.0. Apple includes in iOS 9.1, Google in Android 6.0.1
6. 2015Skin tone modifiers added in Emoji 2.0 via the Fitzpatrick scale

Pointing with a single finger is one of the most culturally variable gestures.

Japan: Pointing at someone with an index finger is considered rude. The polite alternative is to gesture with the whole open hand, palm up. Tourist guides specifically warn about this.

China: Pointing at a person with one finger is reserved for dogs. According to AFAR's etiquette guide, it's considered highly offensive.

Malaysia: The index finger point is so offensive that Disney trains its employees at Southeast Asian parks to gesture with the thumb or whole hand instead, because a pointed finger from a cast member could ruin a guest's experience.

Latin America & much of Africa: Pointing at someone with a finger is considered aggressive or confrontational. The lip-point (pursing your lips in a direction) is the preferred alternative in parts of Central America and the Philippines.

Religious contexts (global): Pointing upward universally carries positive religious significance. Soccer players around the world, from Brazil's Kaka to Egypt's Mohamed Salah, point to the sky after scoring as gratitude to God or tribute to deceased loved ones. This is one of the few pointing gestures that translates cleanly across cultures.

• •The "white" in 👆's original Unicode name (WHITE UP POINTING BACKHAND INDEX) doesn't refer to skin color. It describes the outlined glyph style, as opposed to a filled "black" version, a naming convention inherited from older symbol standards.
• •Between the 12th and 18th centuries, the manicule (a drawn pointing hand) was the most common annotation symbol readers used in books, more common than stars, crosses, or underlines. 👆 is its direct digital descendant.
• •In Buffer's 2025 analysis of millions of social media posts, 👉 was the #2 most-used emoji overall (behind ✨ sparkles), used by 131,783 accounts. Its sibling 👆 didn't crack the top 20. The right-pointing arrow won the directional emoji race because marketers love "check this out 👉."
• •Leonardo da Vinci painted St. John the Baptist pointing upward so many times that art historians gave it a name: "The John Gesture." It meant divine revelation and heavenly salvation.
• •Disney trains employees at its Southeast Asian theme parks never to point with a single index finger, because pointing is offensive in Malaysian and other Asian cultures.

• •Leonardo da Vinci's St. John the Baptist (c. 1513-1516) made the upward-pointing finger so iconic in art that it became known as "The John Gesture." Da Vinci painted the gesture repeatedly across his career. The finger points to heaven, to salvation, to the kingdom above. Five hundred years later, the same gesture appears in millions of text messages daily.
• •Michelangelo's Creation of Adam (1508-1512) on the Sistine Chapel ceiling features two index fingers nearly touching, God's reaching toward Adam's. The gap between them has been analyzed by theologians and art historians for centuries. It's now one of the most reproduced images in human history and was referenced in Steven Spielberg's E.T. poster.
• •Manicules, the hand-drawn pointing fingers medieval readers scribbled in manuscript margins, were the original "look here" annotation. They were used from the 12th to 18th century and are 👆's direct ancestor. Some had elaborate sleeves and oddly long fingers, making them the earliest personalized emoji.
• •Soccer players pointing to the sky after scoring is one of the most recognizable celebrations in sports. Kaka pointed both hands upward after every goal as thanks to God. Lionel Messi points skyward as tribute to his grandmother. The gesture is so universal it transcends league, nationality, and religion.

• •👆 is U+1F446U+1F446. Common shortcodes: :point_up_2::point_up_2: (Slack, GitHub, Discord). Note the _2_2 suffix, because :point_up::point_up: maps to ☝️ (U+261DU+261D), the palm-side version.
• •Skin tone variants: 👆🏻👆🏼👆🏽👆🏾👆🏿. Uses standard Fitzpatrick modifiers appended after the base codepoint.
• •Don't confuse with ☝️ (U+261DU+261D), which comes from the much older Dingbats block (Unicode 1.1, 1993). 👆 is from the Miscellaneous Symbols block (Unicode 6.0, 2010).
• •The directional set (U+1F446U+1F446 through U+1F449U+1F449) maps to up/down/left/right in codepoint order, which is useful for programmatic direction handling.

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