X

From the Etruscan letter 𐌗 (x, “ex”), from the Ancient Greek letter Χ (Kh, “chi”), created ex nihilo.

Coordinate term: / (spare)


May derive from a Latin Io, with the I written over the o, placed at the end of an exclamation to mark it as such. The Io may either be an abbreviation for interiectiō (“interjection”), or else the interjection iō (“hey!”). It expresses admiration in the sentence clause(s), in the Latin sense, of awe or wonderment.

punctuation mark denoting excitement, surprise, or shock

Character #1: "The zombie is right behind you!"

! [indicates that another trainer noticed the player character, prompting a battle between them]

1996, Game Freak, Pokémon Red and Blue, Nintendo

Denoting excitement, surprise, shock or sudden realizations.

(comics, video games) Used by itself to convey that a character is surprised at something.

"I would like to go over this one more time. You met Adrian Andrews at a bar and took the request at that time?" "Yes, that is correct." "And that's the moment you thought 'he' was trustworthy..." "How many times must I repeat myself? Yes, that is correct." "I'm sorry, but that is an impossible tale." "Wh-What!?" "Shelly de Killer. You have never met the real Adrian Andrews!" "...! Wh-Why would you say that...?" "Because you made one very big slip-up... ...about her." "So what is the issue... ...! Wh-What did you say just now...? About 'her'...?" "If you had ever met Adrian Andrews in person... One look would have told you that she is a woman!"

2002, Capcom, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Capcom

(comics, video games) Used to convey that a character has made a sudden realization.


(Fb4! 10.c3 suivi de De7 eut été plus précis)

1983, Claude Santoy, Échecs et maths (in French), Marabout,, page 134

(Bb4! 10.c3 followed by Qe7 would have been more efficient)


(card games) Symbol on playing cards for spades


(card games) Symbol on playing cards for diamonds


(card games) Symbol on playing cards for clubs.


(chess notation) Indicates an interesting move, but one that may not be optimal.


A cursive variation of ᾱ or ᾱᾱ, the abbreviation of Greek ἀνά (aná) used in recipes and prescriptions with the meaning "of each", and later extended to accounting. (Other explanations have that it is ā, an abbreviation of Latin ad (“to”), or French à (“to”).)
Use to create gender-neutral spellings of Spanish and Portuguese words is due to the fact that @ resembles both the feminine ending/element a and the masculine o.

-a-o-@

While I was dealing with the hounds, an orc tracker stumbled across @ from the east.

(video games) In roguelike games, the player character, conventionally represented by this symbol in character-based interfaces.


(card games) Symbol on playing cards for hearts


? may derive from Qo, with the Q written over the o, an abbreviation of Latin quaestio (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such.

(chess) In algebraic notation, marking a bad move.


head

† (English symbol name dagger or obelus)

dagger (English name symbol)
obelus (English name symbol)


(chess) Indicates a dubious move, but not easily refuted.


The shield of the sun god Apollo, with a boss in the center. Medieval replacement of ⟨🜚⟩, the sun with a single ray, which in ancient times had replaced a sun orb surrounded by multiple rays.
Compare the Egyptian hieroglyph ⟨⟩ and the Chinese character ⟨⟩, both of which mean 'sun' and 'day'.

is sometimes seen. This does not occur in astronomy

(philately) cancellation (with an ordinary post-office cancellation mark).


1...Qd3 2 Ne1 Nd2! wins since 3 Nxd3 Rxf1 mate while 3 Qxc7+ Kg6 only delays the end.

2023 January 13, Leonard Barden, “Chess: Carlsen takes on young guns at Wijk as world champion eyes record”, in The Guardian (in English), archived from the original on 2023-01-23

(chess) In algebraic notation: Preceding a move made by Black, unless White's previous move is given on the same line.


+ (English symbol name plus sign or plus)

plus sign (English name symbol)
plus (English name symbol)

antonym(s) of “addition or positiveness”

From a ligature of Latin et (“and”). Compare & and ⁊ of same meaning.


(English name slash or stroke or solidus)

slash (English name)
stroke (English name)
solidus (English name)

The various uses of the present symbol derive from several sources. The medieval virgule (Latin virgula) was an oblique or vertical line that served as a comma, period, and caesura mark and is still used in literary contexts for the slash marking line breaks. (This mark separately developed as the comma ⟨,⟩ and caesura mark ⟨‖⟩ and some senses of the vertical bar ⟨|⟩.) The shilling mark (Latin solidus) was variously written s. or as the long s ſ. This eventually developed into a single unpunctuated slash; its use to separate shillings from pence was sometimes generalized to any currency division. Most mathematical senses derived from the earlier horizontal fraction bar (as in 12, usually attributed to Arabic mathematician al-Hassar), rewritten with a slash by the 18th century to permit fractions to be written on a single line. As a separator and conjunction, it represents an oblique form of the dash ⟨–⟩ or hyphen ⟨-⟩. Its use to mark supposed actions derives from command formatting in online chat forums, while its use to comment on preceding text derives from its use in some programming languages to form closing tags. Its present British name stroke derives from its use in telegraphy; its present American name slash gained wide currency from its use in computing.

used to mark broad phonemic transcriptions

used to italicize text in the absence of italic formatting

Which game do you want to play? The $1/$2 or the $2/$5?

(poker) Used to separate the small blind from the big blind.


★ (English symbol name star or five-pointed star)

star (English name symbol)
five-pointed star (English name symbol)

Likely from Egyptian 𓇼 (“determinative for stars and constellations”) (image: dwA). However, around the same time in Mesopotamia, non-cuneiform depictions of a star with eight- or six-points are attested; compare Sumerian 𒀭, a cuneiform character descended from such drawings.

der

(chiefly video games) An achievement; rewards.

A mark of excellence.
An achievement; rewards.

Indicates something or someone noteworthy, important, special or significant.

(video games) Indicates a power-up or collectible item.

(video games, tabletop games) The symbol for a fictional in-game currency; victory points.

(video games, uncommon) A difficulty rating, with more stars indicating a higher level of difficulty.


`num`

head

`num` (English symbol name number sign or hash or pound sign or octothorpe)

`num` (canonical)
number sign (English name symbol)
hash (English name symbol)
pound sign (English name symbol)
octothorpe (English name symbol)


(go) an evaluation of a game position, down, defined as −↑ = {*|0}.


Death; died; dying; deceased; mortality.

(Internet slang, video games) Kills; to kill; murder.


(go) an evaluation of a game position, up, in combinatorial-game-theory notation: {0|*}.


RGSS

(video games) Initialism of Ruby Game Scripting System. (an RPG scripting language used to create computer RPGs)


For example, these tiles comprise the suit of 4s:
🁿 🂀 🂁 🂂 🂃 🂄 🂅
Notice that one of these tiles, the 🁑, has a 4 in each side: this is called a “double” tile.

2016, Miguel Lugo, Competitive Dominoes: How to Play Like a Champion - Second Edition (in English), Dog Ear Publishing, page 4


Each tile has a certain numerical value. The 🀶, for example, is worth 5 points, while 🁠 is worth 6 + 5 = 11 points.

2016, Miguel Lugo, Competitive Dominoes: How to Play Like a Champion - Second Edition (in English), Dog Ear Publishing, page 5


For example, these tiles comprise the suit of 4s:
🁿 🂀 🂁 🂂 🂃 🂄 🂅


In case of a tie, the domino with the highest single number decides the lead player; for example, a 🁖 beats the 🁐.


ඩ

(Internet slang, humorous) An amogus (a crewmate character from the video game Among Us).


ඞ

For quotations using this term, see Citations:ඞ.


(chess) a move better than the one played


⑨

(go) The ninth (white or black) stone played in a position.


(philately) fiscal cancellation (cancellation of revenue stamps for taxation purposes)


①

(go) The first (white or black) stone played in a position.


③

(go) The third (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑤

(go) The fifth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑥

(go) The sixth (white or black) stone played in a position.


④

(go) The fourth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑧

(go) The eighth (white or black) stone played in a position.


②

(go) The second (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑩

(go) The tenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑦

(go) The seventh (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑭

(go) The fourteenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑲

(go) The nineteenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑮

(go) The fifteenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑬

(go) The thirteenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑫

(go) The twelfth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑳

(go) The twentieth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑪

(go) The eleventh (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑱

(go) The eighteenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑰

(go) The seventeenth (white or black) stone played in a position.


⑯

(go) The sixteenth (white/black) stone played in a position.


*(1): A doubled 'annual' symbol ⟨☉⟩
*(2): ⟨⚆⟩ with a doubled dot

(go, white or black circle) an ad hoc notation that a white (⚇) or black (⚉) stone placed in this position is worth two points

go; white or black circle; go; white or black circle


A dot marking a board position overlapping with a Go stone

(go) an ad hoc notation that a white (⚆) or black (⚈) stone placed in this position is worth a point


[This web mapping application denotes gambling establishments with a two-dimensional white die of three dots on a red background.]

[This social mapping website uses two brown die to indicate a casino.]


(video games) Something that can be interacted with.


Image from Metal Gear Solid, with Solid Snake as ⚪ and his enemies represented by multiple 🔴.

2014, James Paul Gee, Unified Discourse Analysis: Language, Reality, Virtual Worlds and Video Games (in English), Taylor & Francis, page 40

(video games) Indicates an enemy or target.

(video games) Indicates an objective or goal.


(video games, appears at the top of an entity) Indicates a teammate, ally or friendly NPC, such as one that posses a quest for the player.


Rathalos

Direct borrowing from English Rathalos (“dragon species from the Monster Hunter video game series”), possibly a faux word related to English wrath.

bor

A taxonomic genus within the subfamily Anyphaeninae – a genus of anyphaenid sac spiders.


Chilicola charizard

Chilicola + English Charizard (“species of Pokémon”). Charizard is a blend of English char + English lizard.

affix

A taxonomic species within the family Colletidae – xeromelissine bees.


Bulbasaurus

English Bulbasaur (“species of Pokémon”) + -us m, with the influence of -saurus m (“lizard”). English Bulbasaur is derived from English bulb (“plant part”) + English -a- (“phonetic interfix”) + English -saur (“lizard, saurian”), literally “bulb-lizard”.

A taxonomic genus within the family Geikiidae – certain extinct mammals.


Rathalos treecko

Binomial compound of Rathalos + English Treecko (“species of Pokémon”). English Treecko is from a blend of English tree (“type of plant”) + English gecko (“type of lizard”).

blend

A taxonomic species within the family Anyphaenidae – a certain anyphaenid sac spider.