In computer terms, a dingbat is a special kind of font character made of symbols or decorative icons instead of letters and numbers.

Quick Scoop

Simple definition

In computing and typography, a dingbat is:

  • A font character that shows a symbol, shape, or small illustration (like arrows, stars, check marks, hearts, etc.) instead of a letter or digit.
  • Commonly packaged as “dingbat fonts” such as Zapf Dingbats, Wingdings, and Webdings.

So if you type letters while one of these fonts is selected, you don’t get text – you get little pictures.

What dingbats are used for

On computers, dingbats are typically used to:

  • Add visual bullets or icons in lists (for example stars or checkboxes instead of plain dots).
  • Create dividers and decorative lines between sections of text.
  • Insert small icons in documents, slides, or web pages without importing separate image files.
  • Give designs a quick stylistic touch in headings, posters, and social graphics.

Technical angle

From a more technical perspective:

  • A dingbat font maps symbols into the normal character positions in a font (A–Z, 0–9, punctuation).
  • The operating system and apps treat dingbats just like text, so they scale cleanly and can be colored and aligned using normal text tools.

Not to confuse with the slang

“Dingbat” is also English slang for a silly or eccentric person, but in computer and typography contexts it almost always means decorative symbol characters.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.