A tick (known as a checkmark or check in American English) is a mark (✓) used to indicate the concept "yes", for example "yes, this has been verified" or "yes, I agree". Its opposite is the cross (✗), although the cross can also be positive, for example in elections. A check mark, lovingly hand drawn by me atop a square. ... American English (AmE) is the dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ...

As a verb, to tick (off) or to check (off) means to add such a mark. It is quite common, especially on printed forms, printed documents, and computers, for there to be squares in which to place ticks. In America, it is more common for people to check a square box with a cross (☒); while in some European countries, it is more common for people to check a square box with a v-shaped checkmark.

The history of the checkmark goes back to the ancient Romans: When keeping checklists, they marked the items that they had checked with a V, standing for the Latin word vidi ("I saw"). The Roman Forum was the central area around which ancient Rome developed. ... 1. ...

Another history suggests that it comes from the use of fountain pens. A fountain pen (a "self-filling pen" not a dip pen or a quill pen) would not always start flowing ink without some initial action. The downstroke of the pen's nib was enough to get the ink flowing and then the ink was available for the upstroke.

Unicode provides various related symbols, including: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ...