The
pilcrow originated as a letter C, for capitulum, or chapter in
Latin. This C was the symbol that replaced in the function of
marking off paragraphs the Greek-style paragraphos, and other
symbols including the section sign.
It is now used in word processing software and page layout programs to mark the presence of a typewriter style carriage return control character at the end of a paragraph. Most programs allow the user to turn on or off the symbol to visualize page layout.