"?" meaning in English

See ? in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more ? [comparative], most ? [comparative, superlative]
Head templates: {{en-adj}} ? (comparative more ?, superlative most ?)
  1. (LGBTQ) Abbreviation of questioning. Tags: abbreviation, alt-of Alternative form of: questioning Categories (topical): LGBTQ
    Sense id: en-?-en-adj-DV8BrAjS

Noun

Forms: ?s [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} ? (plural ?s)
  1. (text messaging) A question. Tags: Internet
    Sense id: en-?-en-noun-AkIcM18s
  2. objects seen/shaped as the question mark
    Sense id: en-?-en-noun-MUnSFlj0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 31 4 65

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "?s",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "? (plural ?s)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "i hav a ? 4 u\nI 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": [
        {
          "_dis": "31 4 65",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "a ? block\na 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": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "LGBTQ",
          "orig": "en:LGBTQ",
          "parents": [
            "Sexuality",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Sex",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Reproduction",
            "Fundamental",
            "Life",
            "Nature"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "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": "?"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English words 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": [
        {
          "text": "i hav a ? 4 u\nI 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": [
        {
          "text": "a ? block\na 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 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": "?"
}

Download raw JSONL data for ? meaning in English (1.8kB)

{
  "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 English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-03-02 using wiktextract (169bf93 and 633533e). 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.