O mark

O mark is the name of the circle symbol "◯". It is often used in East Asia to express affirmation. Its use is similar to that of the checkmark ("✓") in the Western world. Its opposite is the X mark ("✗" or "×").

The symbol has a variety of names and meanings in various cultures. In Japanese it is called marujirushi (丸印) or maru (丸) and expresses affirmation. In Korean it is called  and expresses affirmation.

Japan
Japan interprets the symbol as an affirmation.

It also employs a number of related symbols (◎ ○ △ ×) in a system that expresses degrees of affirmation. A bullseye "◎" (nijūmaru; 二重丸) is often used for "excellent", the circle is a plain affirmation, the triangle "△" (sankaku; 三角) means "so-so" or "partially applicable", and the "×" expresses disagreement. This system is widely known in Japan, and thus often used without explanation. Sometimes ad-hoc adjustments are made to the system, but these are usually explained.

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
Unicode provides various related symbols, including:

has both text and emoji presentations, as shown in the table. It defaults to emoji presentation.

The emoji looks similar to hanamaru, although it represents a rubber stamp commonly used to grade students' written answers and is not usually recognized as hanamaru.