7 Popular Symbols You Don’t Know the Real Meaning Of

Every day we encounter thousands of signs and symbols. We use some of them to express our strongest feelings when we can’t find the right words. Have you ever wondered about those symbols’ origins? And are you accurately using them?

7 Popular Symbols You Don’t Know the Real Meaning Of

– The ampersand symbol represents the Latin conjunction ‘et’ which equals the English word ‘and.’ Such ligature was first invented in Ancient Rome by Tiro, Cicero’s secretary. To speed up writing, Tiro invented a system of abbreviations which became known as the ‘Tironian Notes.’

– A hypothesis says that the heart symbol initially represented the feminine form. Supporters of this theory argue that the symbol depicts the shape of the female pelvis.

– According to legend, the Greek god Hermes possessed a magic staff, the Caduceus, which looked precisely like the modern medical symbol. The truth is that, more than a hundred years ago, US military doctors confused the Caduceus with the Rod of Asclepius, the Ancient Greek god of healing and medicine.

– As early as the 1940s, engineers used a binary system for representing specific switches, where 1 meant ‘on’ and 0 meant ‘off.’ In the following decades, it has transformed into a sign that features a circle (zero) and a vertical line (one).

– The peace symbol is a combination of the semaphore signals for the letters ‘N’ and ‘D,’ standing for ‘Nuclear Disarmament.’

– A theory says that the ‘OK’ gesture by itself is nothing other than a mudra — a ritual gesture in Buddhism and Hinduism. The sign symbolizes learning, and many Buddhist artworks depict the Buddha making this gesture.

– Bluetooth technology is designed for uniting multiple devices into a single network. The symbol representing this technology is a combination of two Scandinavian runes: ‘Hagall’ (or ‘Hagalaz’) which is the analog of the Latin ‘H,’ and ‘Bjarkan’ — a rune that equals the Latin letter ‘B.’