diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index 0b2bd4e3eab..9993e5078d2 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -1191,6 +1191,11 @@ that use Sphinx's HTMLWriter class.
 
    .. versionadded:: 3.5
 
+.. confval:: html_signaturereturn_icon
+
+   A text for prepended to the type hint for the return type of a function or
+   method.  HTML tags are allowed.  Default: an wrrow; ``→``
+
 .. confval:: html_sidebars
 
    Custom sidebar templates, must be a dictionary that maps document names to
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
index 85669474eab..34103ad98e3 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
@@ -1320,6 +1320,7 @@ def setup(app: Sphinx) -> Dict[str, Any]:
     app.add_config_value('html_add_permalinks', UNSET, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_permalinks', True, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_permalinks_icon', '¶', 'html')
+    app.add_config_value('html_signaturereturn_icon', '→', 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_use_index', True, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_split_index', False, 'html')
     app.add_config_value('html_copy_source', True, 'html')
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html.py b/sphinx/writers/html.py
index e670c402bda..9fd9fe71526 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html.py
@@ -174,7 +174,9 @@ def depart_desc_type(self, node: Element) -> None:
         pass
 
     def visit_desc_returns(self, node: Element) -> None:
-        self.body.append(' <span class="sig-return"><span class="sig-return-icon">&#x2192;</span> <span class="sig-return-typehint">')
+        self.body.append(' <span class="sig-return"><span class="sig-return-icon">')
+        self.body.append(self.config.html_signaturereturn_icon)
+        self.body.append('</span> <span class="sig-return-typehint">')
 
     def depart_desc_returns(self, node: Element) -> None:
         self.body.append('</span></span>')
diff --git a/sphinx/writers/html5.py b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
index 5db75764236..1df9bb46698 100644
--- a/sphinx/writers/html5.py
+++ b/sphinx/writers/html5.py
@@ -145,7 +145,9 @@ def depart_desc_type(self, node: Element) -> None:
         pass
 
     def visit_desc_returns(self, node: Element) -> None:
-        self.body.append(' <span class="sig-return"><span class="sig-return-icon">&#x2192;</span> <span class="sig-return-typehint">')
+        self.body.append(' <span class="sig-return"><span class="sig-return-icon">')
+        self.body.append(self.config.html_signaturereturn_icon)
+        self.body.append('</span> <span class="sig-return-typehint">')
 
     def depart_desc_returns(self, node: Element) -> None:
         self.body.append('</span></span>')