Sample 1. Anyone Have an ERD Symbols Quick Reference?
There are two notations used for ERDs: Chen and Crow's Foot. Variety of symbols offered by two libraries of Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Solution covers both these notations.
Crow’s Foot notation ERD symbols
| Symbol |
Meaning |
| Relationships
(Cardinality and Modality) |
 |
Zero or More |
 |
One or More |
 |
One and only One |
 |
Zero or One |
| Many - to - One |
 |
a one through many notation on one side of a relationship and a one and only one on the other |
 |
a zero through many notation on one side of a relationship and a one and only one on the other |
 |
a one through many notation on one side of a relationship and a zero or one notation on the other |
 |
a zero through many notation on one side of a relationship and a zero or one notation on the other |
| Many - to - Many |
 |
a zero through many on both sides of a relationship |
 |
a one through many on both sides of a relationship |
 |
a zero through many on one side and a one through many on the other |
 |
a one and only one notation on one side of a relationship and a zero or one on the other |
 |
a one and only one notation on both sides |
Chen's notation ERD symbols
| Symbol |
Shape Name |
Symbol Description |
| Entities |
 |
Entity |
An entity is represented by a rectangle which contains the entity’s name. |
 |
Weak Entity |
An entity that cannot be uniquely identified by its attributes alone. The existence of a weak entity is dependent upon another entity called the owner entity. The weak entity’s identifier is a combination of the identifier of the owner entity and the partial key of the weak entity. |
 |
Associative Entity |
An entity used in a many-to-many relationship (represents an extra table). All relationships for the associative entity should be many |
| Attributes |
 |
Attribute |
In the Chen notation, each attribute is represented by an oval containing atributte’s name |
 |
Key attribute |
An attribute that uniquely identifies a particular entity. The name of a key attribute is underscored. |
 |
Multivalued attribute |
An attribute that can have many values (there are many distinct values entered for it in the same column of the table). Multivalued attribute is depicted by a dual oval. |
 |
Derived attribute |
An attribute whose value is calculated (derived) from other attributes. The derived attribute may or may not be physically stored in the database. In the Chen notation, this attribute is represented by dashed oval. |
| Relationships |
 |
Strong relationship |
A relationship where entity is existence-independent of other entities, and PK of Child doesn’t contain PK component of Parent Entity. A strong relationship is represented by a single rhombus |
 |
Weak (identifying) relationship |
A relationship where Child entity is existence-dependent on parent, and PK of Child Entity contains PK component of Parent Entity. This relationship is represented by a double rhombus. |
Collection of samples and examples included to Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) solution and represented at ConceptDraw STORE is an excellent illustration of the ease of application of ready-to-use objects for designing Entity-Relationship diagrams and models.

Example 2. ERD Example
This sample was created in ConceptDraw DIAGRAM using the vector objects from the ERD Chen's Notation library of Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Solution and illustrates the Entity Relationship Diagram. An experienced user spent 15 minutes creating this sample.
Use the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Solution for ConceptDraw DIAGRAM software to create your own professional looking ER Diagrams quick, easy and effective.
All source documents are vector graphic documents. They are available for reviewing, modifying, or converting to a variety of formats (PDF file, MS PowerPoint, MS Visio, and many other graphic formats) from the ConceptDraw STORE. The Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD) Solution is available for all ConceptDraw DIAGRAM or later users.
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