Ideographic Description Characters (Unicode block)

Ideographic Description Characters is a Unicode block containing graphic characters used for describing CJK ideographs. They are used in Ideographic Description Sequences (IDS) to provide a description of an ideograph, in terms of what other ideographs make it up and how they are laid out relative to one another.[3] An IDS provides the reader with a description of an ideograph that cannot be represented properly, usually because it is not encoded in Unicode; rendering systems are not intended to automatically compose the pieces into a complete ideograph, and the descriptions are not standardized.

Ideographic Description Characters
RangeU+2FF0..U+2FFF
(16 code points)
PlaneBMP
ScriptsCommon
Assigned16 code points
Unused0 reserved code points
Source standardsGBK (U+2FF0–U+2FFB only)
Unicode version history
3.0 (1999)12 (+12)
15.1 (2023)16 (+4)
Unicode documentation
Code chart ∣ Web page
Note: [1][2]

U+2FF0 to U+2FFB were introduced from GBK; U+2FFC to U+2FFF were devised later and introduced in Unicode 15.1 (2023).

Block

Ideographic Description Characters[1]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+2FFx ⿿
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 15.1

Ideographic Description Sequences

Ideographic Description Sequences are sequences of characters that represent a Chinese character structure as defined by the Unicode standard.

Below are the 16 characters as defined by Unicode in this block:

UnicodeCharMeaningExample 1IDSExample 2IDS
U+2FF0Two components combined left to right⿰木目𠁢⿰丨㇍
U+2FF1Two components combined above to below⿱木口𠚤⿱𠂊丶
U+2FF2Three components combined left to middle and right⿲彳氵亍𠂗⿲丿夕乚
U+2FF3Three components combined above to middle and below⿳亠口小𠋑⿳亼目口
U+2FF4One component fully wrapping another component⿴囗口𠀬⿴㐁人
U+2FF5One component surround three sides of another component (opening at bottom)⿵几皇𧓉⿵齊虫
U+2FF6One component surround three sides of another component (opening at top)⿶凵㐅⿶乂丶
U+2FF7One component surround three sides of another component (opening at right)⿷匚斤𧆬⿷虎九
U+2FF8One component surround top and left side of another component⿸疒丙𤆯⿸耂火
U+2FF9One component surround top and right side of another component⿹戈廾𢧌⿹或壬
U+2FFAOne component surround bottom and left side of another component⿺走召𥘶⿺礼分
U+2FFBTwo components overlapped⿻工从𣏃⿻木⿻コ一
U+2FFCOne component surround three sides of another component (opening at left)⿼叉丶𬺹⿼コ二
U+2FFDOne component surround bottom and right side of another component⿽水丶⿽⺀十
U+2FFEHorizontal reflection⿾卍𣥄⿾正
U+2FFF⿿Rotation𠕄⿿凹𠄔⿿予

Two other related ideographic description characters are not encoded in this Unicode block, but of which may be used in ideogprahic description sequences:

UnicodeCharBlockMeaningExample 1IDSExample 2IDS
U+303ECJK Symbols and PunctuationVariant but not equivalent㬵 (U+3B35)〾胶 (U+80F6)[4]𫜵〾爫[5]
U+31EFCJK StrokesSubtraction㇯兵丶𧰨㇯豕一


This is the syntax of IDS in EBNF:

IDS := Ideographic | Radical | CJK_Stroke | Private Use | U+FF1F | IDS_BinaryOperator IDS IDS | IDS_TrinaryOperator IDS IDS IDS 
CJK_Stroke := U+31C0 | U+31C1 | ... | U+31E3 
IDS_BinaryOperator := U+2FF0 | U+2FF1 | U+2FF4 | U+2FF5 | U+2FF6 | U+2FF7 | U+2FF8 | U+2FF9 | U+2FFA | U+2FFB 
IDS_TrinaryOperator:= U+2FF2 | U+2FF3

History

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Ideographic Description Characters block:

VersionFinal code points[lower-alpha 1]CountUTC IDL2 IDWG2 IDIRG IDDocument
3.0U+2FF0..2FFB12X3L2/95-111N1284Ideographic Structure Symbol (additional request), 1995-11-07
N1303 (html, doc)Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-01-26), "8.13 Ideographic structure symbols", Minutes of Meeting 29, Tokyo
N1348Ideographic Components and Composition Scheme, 1996-02-05
N1357Revised Ideographic Structure Symbols, 1996-04-12
N1353Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1996-06-25), "9", Draft minutes of WG2 Copenhagen Meeting # 30
L2/97-026N1494IRG proposal: Ideographic structure character, 1996-06-27
N1430N365Proposal Summary Form: Ideographic Structure Character, 1996-08-01
N1453Ksar, Mike; Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1996-12-06), "9.6 Ideographic Structure Characters", WG 2 Minutes - Quebec Meeting 31
L2/97-023N1486N437IRG #8 Resolutions, 1997-01-16
N1489Supplement to Ideographic Components and Composition Schemes, 1997-01-16
N1490N436Response to WG2 question on Ideographic Structure Characters, 1997-01-16
L2/97-030N1503 (pdf, doc)Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1997-04-01), "9.6", Unconfirmed Minutes of WG 2 Meeting #32, Singapore; 1997-01-20--24
L2/97-114N1544 (html, doc)N453Sato, T. K. (1997-04-08), Questions on the "Han structure method" described in WG2 N1490 (IRG N436)
L2/97-255RAliprand, Joan (1997-12-03), "4.B.2 Ideographic Structure Characters", Approved Minutes – UTC #73 & L2 #170 joint meeting, Palo Alto, CA – August 4-5, 1997
N1680Project Sub-Division Proposal on Scheme of Ideograph Description Sequence, 1997-12-18
N1782Clause X Ideographic Description Sequence (IDS) – IRG N575, 1998-05-06
L2/98-158Aliprand, Joan; Winkler, Arnold (1998-05-26), "SC2 SC2 Action re Ideographic Description Sequences", Draft Minutes – UTC #76 & NCITS Subgroup L2 #173 joint meeting, Tredyffrin, Pennsylvania, April 20-22, 1998
N1842Proposed text for a Draft for amendment 28 - Ideographic Description Sequences, 1998-06-03
L2/98-286N1703Umamaheswaran, V. S.; Ksar, Mike (1998-07-02), "9.5", Unconfirmed Meeting Minutes, WG 2 Meeting #34, Redmond, WA, USA; 1998-03-16--20, The original proposal was to use character composition. It has changed from being composition to description over its three year development.
L2/98-317N1892 (pdf, doc)Combined CD registration and consideration ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters, 1998-10-22
L2/99-010N1903 (pdf, html, doc)Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1998-12-30), "10.3", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 35, London, U.K.; 1998-09-21--25
L2/99-072.1N1971Irish Comments on SC 2 N 3186, 1999-01-19
L2/99-072N1970 (html, doc)Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3186, PDAM ballot on WD for 10646-1/Amd. 28: Ideographic description characters, 1999-02-05
N2023Paterson, Bruce (1999-04-06), FPDAM 28 Text - Ideographic Description Characters
L2/99-120Text for FPDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646, Amd. 28 - Ideographic description characters, 1999-04-07
UTC/1999-014Jenkins, John (1999-06-01), Recursion depth limit for IDC's
UTC/1999-015Whistler, Ken (1999-06-01), Re: Brief note on length of ideograph descriptions
UTC/1999-020Jenkins, John (1999-06-04), Diagram and language [for Ideograph Description Sequences]
L2/99-176RMoore, Lisa (1999-11-04), "Recursion Limit for Ideographic Description Characters", Minutes from the joint UTC/L2 meeting in Seattle, June 8-10, 1999
L2/99-232N2003Umamaheswaran, V. S. (1999-08-03), "6.1.2 PDAM28 - Ideographic Description Characters", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 36, Fukuoka, Japan, 1999-03-09--15
L2/99-253N2067Summary of Voting on SC 2 N 3312, ISO 10646-1/FPDAM 28 - Ideographic description characters, 1999-08-19
L2/99-301N2123Disposition of Comments Report on SC 2 N 3312, ISO/IEC 10646-1/FPDAM 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters, 1999-09-20
L2/99-302N2124Paterson, Bruce (1999-09-24), Revised Text for FDAM ballot of ISO/IEC 10646-1/FDAM 28, AMENDMENT 28: Ideographic description characters
L2/00-010N2103Umamaheswaran, V. S. (2000-01-05), "6.4.3", Minutes of WG 2 meeting 37, Copenhagen, Denmark: 1999-09-13—16
L2/00-045Summary of FDAM voting: ISO 10646 Amd. 28: Ideographic description characters, 2000-01-31
L2/02-221N2480Cook, Richard (2002-05-18), Proposal to add Ideographic Description Characters (IDC) to the UCS
L2/02-436N2534N955IRG Radical Classification, 2002-11-21
L2/12-087Proposed Changes to ISO/IEC 10646 Annex I, Ideographic Description Characters, 2012-02-09
L2/12-007Moore, Lisa (2012-02-14), "Consensus 130-C13", UTC #130 / L2 #227 Minutes, Submit L2/12-087 on extensions to ideographic description sequences to WG2.
L2/15-065Jenkins, John (2015-02-02), Proposal to Add IDS Links to Online Unihan Database
L2/15-070Davis, Mark (2015-02-03), IDS in Unihan
L2/15-313Lunde, Ken (2015-11-03), Request for IDS Data
15.1U+2FFC..2FFF4L2/17-386N2273Yang, Tao; Chan, Eiso; Wang, Yifan (2017-10-13), Submission of 3 IDCes
L2/17-379Lunde, Ken (2017-10-20), "Proposed Ideographic Description Characters (IDCs)", IRG #49 Liaison Report
L2/18-012Yang, Tao; Chan, Eiso; Wang, Yifan (2018-01-05), Proposal of Four IDCs
L2/18-168Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Liang, Hai; Chapman, Chris; Cook, Richard (2018-04-28), "22. IDCs", Recommendations to UTC #155 April-May 2018 on Script Proposals
L2/21-118RN2492Lunde, Ken; Jenkins, John H. (2021-08-11), Preliminary proposal to add a new provisional kIDS property (Unihan)
L2/22-136West, Andrew (2022-07-08), Feedback on Proposals to Encode New Ideographic Description Characters
L2/22-191N2572Lunde, Ken; Jenkins, John; West, Andrew (2022-08-24), Proposal to encode five new Ideographic Description Characters
L2/22-227SAT Feedback to "Preliminary proposal to add a new provisional kIDS property (Unihan)" (IRGN2492) and "Proposal to encode five new Ideographic Description Characters" (IRGN2572), 2022-08-29
L2/22-228Fan, Ming (2022-09-02), Feedback on IRGN2572 "Proposal to encode 5 new ideograph description characters"
L2/22-247Lunde, Ken (2022-11-01), "29", CJK & Unihan Group Recommendations for UTC #173 Meeting
L2/22-241Constable, Peter (2022-11-09), "E.1 29", Approved Minutes of UTC Meeting 173
  1. Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names

See also

References

  1. "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  2. "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
  3. IDS are described in chapter 18.2 of the Unicode Standard 9.0 on pages 689 through 692.
  4. "「㬵(U+3B35)」和「胶(U+80F6)」为什么在《康熙字典》收录了两次? - 知乎". www.zhihu.com. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
  5. "基本集扩充字考(五・完结)附扩充块新增字考". 知乎专栏 (in Chinese). Retrieved 2023-09-21.
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