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🕏 U+1F54F, 🕏 BOWL OF HYGIEIA ← 🕎 [U+1F54E] Miscellaneous Symbols and Pictographs 🕐 → [U+1F550]

Hygieia's serpent drinking from a bowl

Translingual

Etymology

A serpent drinking from a cup or bowl and sometimes twined around it. Perhaps related to the serpent in the staff of Asclepius, which is thought to be the Guinea worm in origin.

Symbol

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1. (medicine) the traditional symbol of the goddess Hygieia, associated with preventative medicine
2. a pharmacy, particularly in Europe

Usage notes

The masculine equivalent, the rod of Asclepius (Hygieia's husband) ⟨⚕⟩, is associated with curative medicine.

Derived terms

Ultimate source of the modern symbol ⟨⯚⟩ of the asteroid (10) Hygiea, though that has transmogrified into a caduceus.