A power symbol is a symbol indicating that a control activates or deactivates a particular device. It incorporates line and circle figures, with the arrangement informed by the function of the control. The universal power symbols are described in the International Electrotechnical Commission 60417 standard, Graphical symbols for use on equipment, appearing in the 1973 edition of the document (as IEC 417) and informally used earlier.[1]
The power symbol was the result of the logical evolution of a simple user interface, with most early power controls being simple switches that were toggled between two states demarcated by the words 'On' and 'Off'. As technology became more ubiquitous though, the English words were replaced by the universal numeral symbols '1' and '0' to bypass any possible language barriers. These symbols were later super-imposed on one another when the standard switch for a power control was replaced by a single button which toggled between power states, giving us the universally recognized power symbol we know today.
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