3 Symbols You Didn’t Know The Meaning Behind

There are symbols all around us that have become so commonplace that we don’t even realize the reason behind their usage or creation. Today’s post will review some of these symbols and the reasons why they have come to mean what they do today.

The heart is a symbol that we use to show love or affection for something or someone, but anyone who has taken a biology course can tell you that it looks nothing like a human’s heart. So where did this shape come from?

There are several theories on how the heart icon that we know and use today came to be the most commonly acknowledged theory comes from Ancient Rome (so you already know it’s going to be crazy). 

In Ancient Rome, many people who had multiple intimate partners used the seed Silphium as a contraceptive method. The seed, which is now extinct, was shaped like what we now recognize as the heart symbol. 

This explains why the logo was representative of “love” but why the heart? Something that you may not have thought of was why we view the heart as the center of love. If you think about it, why don’t we consider it to be the brain? 

Aristotle is the reason behind this decision after he claimed that the heart was the “seat of the soul” including love. Therefore the “loving” act represented by the seed was referred to as the heart that we now use as a logo today. 

Another symbol that you have probably used before is the smiley face. The origins behind the yellow and black iconic smiley face logo are more interesting than you might think. 

The original graphic was designed by Harvey Ball who was asked to create a symbol to boost employee morale. In total, it took 10 minutes, and Mr. Ball was paid an “impressive” $45 for his now-infamous design.

While neither Mr. Ball nor the company filed for any claim over the copyright, future designers have trademarked parts of the original to use in their designs. 

The third symbol you might recognize is the exclamation mark!

While you may not have considered this small editorial feature, the exclamation mark is an abbreviation of the Latin “io” which translated to “hurray.” Now we use the combined symbol of the “i” over the “o” to represent exclamation.

Did any of these surprise you? Let me know in the comments below!