what is ^ symbol called

The ^ symbol is most commonly called the caret.

Depending on context, you may also hear it called:

• Circumflex (especially in typography or when it appears over a letter, like ê).

• Exponent/Power symbol (in plain-text math to mean “to the power of”, like 2^3).

• Hat (casual name, especially in math and programming, e.g., “x-hat”).

On a standard keyboard, you usually type it with Shift + 6.