See ? on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "mul"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "?"
},
"expansion": "⟨?⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "⹔"
},
"expansion": "⟨⹔⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"2": "la",
"3": "quaestiō",
"4": "",
"5": "question"
},
"expansion": "Latin quaestiō (“question”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "!"
},
"expansion": "⟨!⟩",
"name": "angbr"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One states that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus ⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.\nAnother theory is that it derives from overset Qo, an abbreviation of Latin quaestiō (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.\nThere are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "question mark",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
},
{
"form": "interrogation mark",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
},
{
"form": "interrogation point",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
},
{
"form": "eroteme",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"10": "interrogation point",
"11": "or",
"12": "eroteme",
"2": "punctuation mark",
"3": "",
"4": "[[#Translingual|]]",
"5": "English name",
"6": "question mark",
"7": "or",
"8": "interrogation mark",
"9": "or",
"cat2": "",
"f1lang": "en",
"f1nolink": "",
"f2lang": "en",
"f2nolink": "",
"f3lang": "en",
"f3nolink": "",
"f4lang": "en",
"f4nolink": "",
"head": "",
"head2": "",
"sc": "",
"sort": ""
},
"expansion": "? (English name question mark or interrogation mark or interrogation point or eroteme)",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {
"name": "question mark",
"name2": "interrogation mark",
"name3": "interrogation point",
"name4": "eroteme"
},
"expansion": "? (English name question mark or interrogation mark or interrogation point or eroteme)",
"name": "mul-punctuation mark"
}
],
"lang": "Translingual",
"lang_code": "mul",
"pos": "punct",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"word": "For the reversed question mark used in some right-to-left scripts"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "؟"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
31,
32
]
],
"text": "Then you're not coming tomorrow?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used in various left-to-right scripts, including notably the Latin script, to mark the preceding sentence as a question."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-punct-KQ4-kKAj",
"links": [
[
"Latin script",
"Appendix:Latin script"
],
[
"question",
"question#English"
]
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Comics",
"orig": "mul:Comics",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Character #1: \"I have no time to explain! Have you seen a Big Bad Wolf blowing down various houses?\""
},
{
"text": "Character #2: \"?\""
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used by itself to convey that the speaker is confused."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-punct-apeUsTXt",
"links": [
[
"comics",
"comics"
],
[
"Internet",
"Internet"
],
[
"by itself",
"by oneself#English"
],
[
"confused",
"confused#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(comics, Internet slang) Used by itself to convey that the speaker is confused."
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
],
"tags": [
"Internet"
],
"topics": [
"comics",
"literature",
"media",
"publishing"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Linguistics",
"orig": "mul:Linguistics",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
334,
335
],
[
335,
336
]
],
"ref": "2006, Renaat Declerck, Susan Reed, Bert Cappelle, “The Grammar of the English Verb Phrase”, in The Grammar of the English Tense System, volume 1 (in English), →ISBN, page 6:",
"text": "A superscript question mark will be used similarly to indicate that a sentence or constituent is questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason. A double superscript question mark indicates an even higher degree of questionability.\nI have never { worked / been working } on a dissertation\nThis time tomorrow I { will / ^(??)am going to } be driving to London.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-punct-73CXd53i",
"links": [
[
"linguistics",
"linguistics"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(linguistics) Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason."
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"linguistics",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "!?"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "?!"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "??"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "¿ ?"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "‽"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "⸮"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "mul"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "?"
},
"expansion": "⟨?⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "⹔"
},
"expansion": "⟨⹔⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"2": "la",
"3": "quaestiō",
"4": "",
"5": "question"
},
"expansion": "Latin quaestiō (“question”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "!"
},
"expansion": "⟨!⟩",
"name": "angbr"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One states that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus ⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.\nAnother theory is that it derives from overset Qo, an abbreviation of Latin quaestiō (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.\nThere are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "None"
},
"expansion": "Zsym",
"name": "mul-symbol/script"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"10": "",
"2": "symbol",
"3": "",
"4": "",
"5": "or",
"6": "",
"7": "or",
"8": "",
"9": "or",
"cat2": "",
"f1lang": "en",
"f1nolink": "",
"f2lang": "en",
"f2nolink": "",
"f3lang": "en",
"f3nolink": "",
"f4lang": "en",
"f4nolink": "",
"head": "",
"head2": "",
"head3": "",
"head4": "",
"image": "",
"nolinkhead": "",
"sc": "Zsym",
"sort": ""
},
"expansion": "?",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "?",
"name": "mul-symbol"
}
],
"lang": "Translingual",
"lang_code": "mul",
"pos": "symbol",
"related": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "؟"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "!"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "!!"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": ";"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"tags": [
"Armenian"
],
"word": "՞"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "？"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "'; ’",
"word": "apostrophe"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "curly brackets"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "{ }",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "brace"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "square bracket"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "[ ]",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "bracket"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": ":",
"word": "colon"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": ",",
"word": "comma"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "‒; –; —; ―",
"word": "dash"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "…",
"word": "ellipsis"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "!",
"word": "exclamation mark"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "⁄",
"word": "fraction slash"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "« »; ‹ ›",
"word": "guillemet"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "-; ‐",
"word": "hyphen"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "·",
"word": "interpunct"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "‽",
"tags": [
"rare"
],
"word": "interrobang"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "bracket"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "parentheses (US"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "( )",
"word": "Canada)"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "full stop"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": ".",
"tags": [
"Canada",
"US"
],
"word": "period"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "?",
"word": "question mark"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "‘ ’ ‚; „",
"tags": [
"formal"
],
"word": "quotation marks"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "\"; '",
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"sciences",
"physical-sciences",
"natural-sciences"
],
"word": "quotation marks"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": ";",
"word": "semicolon"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"word": "slash"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "/",
"tags": [
"UK"
],
"word": "stroke"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0 0 0 0",
"alt": "] [",
"word": "space"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
24,
26
],
[
35,
37
]
],
"text": "Thomas Hamilton (born 16??, died 17??)",
"type": "example"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
45,
46
],
[
62,
63
]
],
"ref": "2009, Terry Stickels, Math Puzzles and Brainteasers, Grades 3-5: Over 300 Puzzles that Teach Math and Problem-Solving Skills (in English), John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 6:",
"text": "What is the next number in the sequence below?\n1 4 9 16 25 36 ?",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A placeholder for an unknown word, phrase, text, or numerical value."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-symbol-ah7S9vOc",
"links": [
[
"placeholder",
"placeholder"
],
[
"word",
"word"
],
[
"phrase",
"phrase"
],
[
"text",
"text"
],
[
"value",
"value"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Chess",
"orig": "mul:Chess",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "2 0 2 1 2 7 1 2 1 10 8 27 9 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Indicator of a bad move."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-symbol-MPIyWItK",
"links": [
[
"chess",
"chess"
],
[
"bad",
"bad"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chess) Indicator of a bad move."
],
"topics": [
"board-games",
"chess",
"games"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Programming",
"orig": "mul:Programming",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "3 0 3 1 4 6 2 4 2 10 11 23 8 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 3 entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A wildcard for one character in query language."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-symbol-jUJmMpDk",
"links": [
[
"programming",
"programming#Noun"
],
[
"wildcard",
"wildcard"
],
[
"character",
"character"
],
[
"query language",
"query language"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(programming) A wildcard for one character in query language."
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"natural-sciences",
"physical-sciences",
"programming",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Programming",
"orig": "mul:Programming",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "3 0 3 1 4 6 2 4 2 10 11 23 8 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 3 entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 0 2 1 2 7 1 2 1 10 8 27 9 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"The ternary operator in some programming languages."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-symbol-bJjek6Oo",
"links": [
[
"programming",
"programming#Noun"
],
[
"ternary operator",
"ternary operator"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(programming) The ternary operator in some programming languages."
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"natural-sciences",
"physical-sciences",
"programming",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Regular expressions",
"orig": "mul:Regular expressions",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "The string colou?r matches both \"color\" and \"colour\"."
}
],
"glosses": [
"Detects zero or one occurrences of the preceding element."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-symbol-Ta1hB4rl",
"links": [
[
"regular expression",
"regular expression"
],
[
"zero",
"zero"
],
[
"one",
"one"
]
],
"qualifier": "regular expressions",
"raw_glosses": [
"(regular expressions) Detects zero or one occurrences of the preceding element."
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "mul",
"name": "Networking",
"orig": "mul:Networking",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "3 0 3 1 4 6 2 4 2 10 11 23 8 24",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 3 entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "2 0 2 1 2 7 1 2 1 10 8 27 9 28",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "4 1 6 3 9 24 19 4 32",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Translingual entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "7 2 9 2 10 12 22 7 29",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Translingual punctuation marks",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "11 3 7 3 7 14 15 5 35",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Translingual terms with non-redundant manual script codes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day&action=view"
}
],
"glosses": [
"In a URL, begins a query string (a series of data formatted as field-value pairs)."
],
"id": "en-?-mul-symbol-Hm0LOmbK",
"links": [
[
"networking",
"networking#Noun"
],
[
"URL",
"URL"
],
[
"query string",
"query string"
],
[
"data",
"data"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(networking) In a URL, begins a query string (a series of data formatted as field-value pairs)."
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"natural-sciences",
"networking",
"physical-sciences",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "?s",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "? (plural ?s)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
8,
9
]
],
"english": "I have a question for you",
"text": "i hav a ? 4 u",
"translation": "I have a question for you",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A question."
],
"id": "en-?-en-noun-AkIcM18s",
"links": [
[
"text messaging",
"text messaging"
],
[
"question",
"question"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(text messaging) A question."
],
"tags": [
"Internet"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
2,
3
]
],
"english": "a question-mark block",
"text": "a ? block",
"translation": "a question-mark block",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"objects seen/shaped as the question mark"
],
"id": "en-?-en-noun-MUnSFlj0",
"links": [
[
"question mark",
"question mark"
]
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "more ?",
"tags": [
"comparative"
]
},
{
"form": "most ?",
"tags": [
"comparative",
"superlative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "? (comparative more ?, superlative most ?)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "questioning"
}
],
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "LGBTQ",
"orig": "en:LGBTQ",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "56 7 37",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "60 8 32",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English words spelled without vowels",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Abbreviation of questioning."
],
"id": "en-?-en-adj-DV8BrAjS",
"links": [
[
"LGBTQ",
"LGBTQ"
],
[
"questioning",
"questioning#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(LGBTQ) Abbreviation of questioning."
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "es",
"2": "punctuation mark"
},
"expansion": "?",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"pos": "punct",
"senses": [
{
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "¡ !"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used in ¿ ?."
],
"id": "en-?-es-punct-Z~03QmwJ",
"links": [
[
"¿ ?",
"¿ ?#Spanish"
]
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "19 81",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Spanish entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 91",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Spanish punctuation marks",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "!"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
10,
11
]
],
"bold_translation_offsets": [
[
11,
12
]
],
"english": "How are you?",
"text": "Cómo estás?",
"translation": "How are you?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Marks a preceding passage as a question, without the starting ¿, as in other languages."
],
"id": "en-?-es-punct--wYp6Xkh",
"links": [
[
"question",
"question#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(nonstandard) Marks a preceding passage as a question, without the starting ¿, as in other languages."
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
],
"tags": [
"nonstandard"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English words spelled without vowels",
"Pages with 3 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "?s",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "? (plural ?s)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples",
"English text messaging slang"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
8,
9
]
],
"english": "I have a question for you",
"text": "i hav a ? 4 u",
"translation": "I have a question for you",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A question."
],
"links": [
[
"text messaging",
"text messaging"
],
[
"question",
"question"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(text messaging) A question."
],
"tags": [
"Internet"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
2,
3
]
],
"english": "a question-mark block",
"text": "a ? block",
"translation": "a question-mark block",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"objects seen/shaped as the question mark"
],
"links": [
[
"question mark",
"question mark"
]
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"categories": [
"English adjectives",
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English words spelled without vowels",
"Pages with 3 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"forms": [
{
"form": "more ?",
"tags": [
"comparative"
]
},
{
"form": "most ?",
"tags": [
"comparative",
"superlative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "? (comparative more ?, superlative most ?)",
"name": "en-adj"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"alt_of": [
{
"word": "questioning"
}
],
"categories": [
"English abbreviations",
"en:LGBTQ"
],
"glosses": [
"Abbreviation of questioning."
],
"links": [
[
"LGBTQ",
"LGBTQ"
],
[
"questioning",
"questioning#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(LGBTQ) Abbreviation of questioning."
],
"tags": [
"abbreviation",
"alt-of"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"categories": [
"Pages with 3 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Spanish entries with incorrect language header",
"Spanish lemmas",
"Spanish punctuation marks"
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "es",
"2": "punctuation mark"
},
"expansion": "?",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "Spanish",
"lang_code": "es",
"pos": "punct",
"senses": [
{
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "¡ !"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used in ¿ ?."
],
"links": [
[
"¿ ?",
"¿ ?#Spanish"
]
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"Spanish nonstandard terms",
"Spanish terms with usage examples"
],
"coordinate_terms": [
{
"word": "!"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
10,
11
]
],
"bold_translation_offsets": [
[
11,
12
]
],
"english": "How are you?",
"text": "Cómo estás?",
"translation": "How are you?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Marks a preceding passage as a question, without the starting ¿, as in other languages."
],
"links": [
[
"question",
"question#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(nonstandard) Marks a preceding passage as a question, without the starting ¿, as in other languages."
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
],
"tags": [
"nonstandard"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"categories": [
"Pages with 3 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Translingual entries with incorrect language header",
"Translingual lemmas",
"Translingual punctuation marks",
"Translingual symbols",
"Translingual terms derived from Latin",
"Translingual terms with non-redundant manual script codes",
"Translingual terms with unknown etymologies"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "mul"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "?"
},
"expansion": "⟨?⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "⹔"
},
"expansion": "⟨⹔⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"2": "la",
"3": "quaestiō",
"4": "",
"5": "question"
},
"expansion": "Latin quaestiō (“question”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "!"
},
"expansion": "⟨!⟩",
"name": "angbr"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One states that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus ⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.\nAnother theory is that it derives from overset Qo, an abbreviation of Latin quaestiō (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.\nThere are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "question mark",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
},
{
"form": "interrogation mark",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
},
{
"form": "interrogation point",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
},
{
"form": "eroteme",
"tags": [
"English",
"name"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"10": "interrogation point",
"11": "or",
"12": "eroteme",
"2": "punctuation mark",
"3": "",
"4": "[[#Translingual|]]",
"5": "English name",
"6": "question mark",
"7": "or",
"8": "interrogation mark",
"9": "or",
"cat2": "",
"f1lang": "en",
"f1nolink": "",
"f2lang": "en",
"f2nolink": "",
"f3lang": "en",
"f3nolink": "",
"f4lang": "en",
"f4nolink": "",
"head": "",
"head2": "",
"sc": "",
"sort": ""
},
"expansion": "? (English name question mark or interrogation mark or interrogation point or eroteme)",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {
"name": "question mark",
"name2": "interrogation mark",
"name3": "interrogation point",
"name4": "eroteme"
},
"expansion": "? (English name question mark or interrogation mark or interrogation point or eroteme)",
"name": "mul-punctuation mark"
}
],
"lang": "Translingual",
"lang_code": "mul",
"pos": "punct",
"related": [
{
"word": "For the reversed question mark used in some right-to-left scripts"
},
{
"word": "؟"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Translingual terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
31,
32
]
],
"text": "Then you're not coming tomorrow?",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used in various left-to-right scripts, including notably the Latin script, to mark the preceding sentence as a question."
],
"links": [
[
"Latin script",
"Appendix:Latin script"
],
[
"question",
"question#English"
]
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"Translingual internet slang",
"mul:Comics"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Character #1: \"I have no time to explain! Have you seen a Big Bad Wolf blowing down various houses?\""
},
{
"text": "Character #2: \"?\""
}
],
"glosses": [
"Used by itself to convey that the speaker is confused."
],
"links": [
[
"comics",
"comics"
],
[
"Internet",
"Internet"
],
[
"by itself",
"by oneself#English"
],
[
"confused",
"confused#English"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(comics, Internet slang) Used by itself to convey that the speaker is confused."
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
],
"tags": [
"Internet"
],
"topics": [
"comics",
"literature",
"media",
"publishing"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"Translingual terms with quotations",
"mul:Linguistics"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
334,
335
],
[
335,
336
]
],
"ref": "2006, Renaat Declerck, Susan Reed, Bert Cappelle, “The Grammar of the English Verb Phrase”, in The Grammar of the English Tense System, volume 1 (in English), →ISBN, page 6:",
"text": "A superscript question mark will be used similarly to indicate that a sentence or constituent is questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason. A double superscript question mark indicates an even higher degree of questionability.\nI have never { worked / been working } on a dissertation\nThis time tomorrow I { will / ^(??)am going to } be driving to London.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason."
],
"links": [
[
"linguistics",
"linguistics"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(linguistics) Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason."
],
"raw_tags": [
"punctuation"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"linguistics",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
{
"categories": [
"Pages with 3 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Translingual entries with incorrect language header",
"Translingual lemmas",
"Translingual punctuation marks",
"Translingual symbols",
"Translingual terms derived from Latin",
"Translingual terms with non-redundant manual script codes",
"Translingual terms with unknown etymologies"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "!?"
},
{
"word": "?!"
},
{
"word": "??"
},
{
"word": "¿ ?"
},
{
"word": "‽"
},
{
"word": "⸮"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "mul"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "?"
},
"expansion": "⟨?⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "⹔"
},
"expansion": "⟨⹔⟩",
"name": "angbr"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"2": "la",
"3": "quaestiō",
"4": "",
"5": "question"
},
"expansion": "Latin quaestiō (“question”)",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "!"
},
"expansion": "⟨!⟩",
"name": "angbr"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One states that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus ⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.\nAnother theory is that it derives from overset Qo, an abbreviation of Latin quaestiō (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.\nThere are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "None"
},
"expansion": "Zsym",
"name": "mul-symbol/script"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "mul",
"10": "",
"2": "symbol",
"3": "",
"4": "",
"5": "or",
"6": "",
"7": "or",
"8": "",
"9": "or",
"cat2": "",
"f1lang": "en",
"f1nolink": "",
"f2lang": "en",
"f2nolink": "",
"f3lang": "en",
"f3nolink": "",
"f4lang": "en",
"f4nolink": "",
"head": "",
"head2": "",
"head3": "",
"head4": "",
"image": "",
"nolinkhead": "",
"sc": "Zsym",
"sort": ""
},
"expansion": "?",
"name": "head"
},
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "?",
"name": "mul-symbol"
}
],
"lang": "Translingual",
"lang_code": "mul",
"pos": "symbol",
"related": [
{
"word": "!"
},
{
"word": "!!"
},
{
"word": ";"
},
{
"tags": [
"Armenian"
],
"word": "՞"
},
{
"word": "؟"
},
{
"word": "？"
},
{
"alt": "'; ’",
"word": "apostrophe"
},
{
"word": "curly brackets"
},
{
"alt": "{ }",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "brace"
},
{
"word": "square bracket"
},
{
"alt": "[ ]",
"tags": [
"US"
],
"word": "bracket"
},
{
"alt": ":",
"word": "colon"
},
{
"alt": ",",
"word": "comma"
},
{
"alt": "‒; –; —; ―",
"word": "dash"
},
{
"alt": "…",
"word": "ellipsis"
},
{
"alt": "!",
"word": "exclamation mark"
},
{
"alt": "⁄",
"word": "fraction slash"
},
{
"alt": "« »; ‹ ›",
"word": "guillemet"
},
{
"alt": "-; ‐",
"word": "hyphen"
},
{
"alt": "·",
"word": "interpunct"
},
{
"alt": "‽",
"tags": [
"rare"
],
"word": "interrobang"
},
{
"word": "bracket"
},
{
"word": "parentheses (US"
},
{
"alt": "( )",
"word": "Canada)"
},
{
"word": "full stop"
},
{
"alt": ".",
"tags": [
"Canada",
"US"
],
"word": "period"
},
{
"alt": "?",
"word": "question mark"
},
{
"alt": "‘ ’ ‚; „",
"tags": [
"formal"
],
"word": "quotation marks"
},
{
"alt": "\"; '",
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"sciences",
"physical-sciences",
"natural-sciences"
],
"word": "quotation marks"
},
{
"alt": ";",
"word": "semicolon"
},
{
"word": "slash"
},
{
"alt": "/",
"tags": [
"UK"
],
"word": "stroke"
},
{
"alt": "] [",
"word": "space"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples",
"Translingual terms with quotations"
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
24,
26
],
[
35,
37
]
],
"text": "Thomas Hamilton (born 16??, died 17??)",
"type": "example"
},
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
45,
46
],
[
62,
63
]
],
"ref": "2009, Terry Stickels, Math Puzzles and Brainteasers, Grades 3-5: Over 300 Puzzles that Teach Math and Problem-Solving Skills (in English), John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 6:",
"text": "What is the next number in the sequence below?\n1 4 9 16 25 36 ?",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A placeholder for an unknown word, phrase, text, or numerical value."
],
"links": [
[
"placeholder",
"placeholder"
],
[
"word",
"word"
],
[
"phrase",
"phrase"
],
[
"text",
"text"
],
[
"value",
"value"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"mul:Chess"
],
"glosses": [
"Indicator of a bad move."
],
"links": [
[
"chess",
"chess"
],
[
"bad",
"bad"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(chess) Indicator of a bad move."
],
"topics": [
"board-games",
"chess",
"games"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"mul:Programming"
],
"glosses": [
"A wildcard for one character in query language."
],
"links": [
[
"programming",
"programming#Noun"
],
[
"wildcard",
"wildcard"
],
[
"character",
"character"
],
[
"query language",
"query language"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(programming) A wildcard for one character in query language."
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"natural-sciences",
"physical-sciences",
"programming",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"mul:Programming"
],
"glosses": [
"The ternary operator in some programming languages."
],
"links": [
[
"programming",
"programming#Noun"
],
[
"ternary operator",
"ternary operator"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(programming) The ternary operator in some programming languages."
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"natural-sciences",
"physical-sciences",
"programming",
"sciences"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"mul:Regular expressions"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "The string colou?r matches both \"color\" and \"colour\"."
}
],
"glosses": [
"Detects zero or one occurrences of the preceding element."
],
"links": [
[
"regular expression",
"regular expression"
],
[
"zero",
"zero"
],
[
"one",
"one"
]
],
"qualifier": "regular expressions",
"raw_glosses": [
"(regular expressions) Detects zero or one occurrences of the preceding element."
]
},
{
"categories": [
"mul:Networking"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day&action=view"
}
],
"glosses": [
"In a URL, begins a query string (a series of data formatted as field-value pairs)."
],
"links": [
[
"networking",
"networking#Noun"
],
[
"URL",
"URL"
],
[
"query string",
"query string"
],
[
"data",
"data"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(networking) In a URL, begins a query string (a series of data formatted as field-value pairs)."
],
"topics": [
"computing",
"engineering",
"mathematics",
"natural-sciences",
"networking",
"physical-sciences",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"word": "?"
}
Download raw JSONL data for ? meaning in All languages combined (13.8kB)
{
"called_from": "form_descriptions/1089",
"msg": "suspicious unhandled suffix in Translingual: '¿ ?', originally '¿ ?'",
"path": [
"?"
],
"section": "Translingual",
"subsection": "symbol",
"title": "?",
"trace": ""
}
{
"called_from": "form_descriptions/1089",
"msg": "suspicious unhandled suffix in English: 'more ?', originally 'more ?'",
"path": [
"?"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "adjective",
"title": "?",
"trace": ""
}
{
"called_from": "form_descriptions/1089",
"msg": "suspicious unhandled suffix in English: 'most ?', originally 'most ?'",
"path": [
"?"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "adjective",
"title": "?",
"trace": ""
}
{
"called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
"msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: LGBTQ",
"path": [
"?"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "adjective",
"title": "?",
"trace": ""
}
{
"called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
"msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: LGBTQ",
"path": [
"?"
],
"section": "English",
"subsection": "adjective",
"title": "?",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.