Derives from overset Io, an abbreviation of either interiectiō (“interjection”) or the interjection iō (“hey!”), placed at the end of an exclamation to mark it as such. It expresses admiratio (“awe, wonderment”) in the clause.

punctuation mark denoting excitement, surprise, or shock

What a beautiful day!

Seu macaquinho imundo!

2007, J. K. Rowling, translated by Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e as Relíquias da Morte [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows] (Harry Potter; 7), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 369:

Denoting excitement, surprise, shock or sudden realizations.

Expresses excitement, anger or other emotion.

I had no idea!

Replacing a period at the end of a declarative sentence.

How is that possible?!

Following a question mark at the end of an interrogative sentence.

After he finished his drink

At the end of an interjection that is set off by dashes or parentheses.

After he finished his fifth drink (!), he left the room.

MAKE! PRINCE! WILLIAM! HAVE! MIDDLE! PARTED! BANGS! AGAIN!

2024 October 24, Mehera Bonner, Jamie Ballard, “Hi, You Should See These Rare Photos of Prince William Through the Years”, in Cosmopolitan (in English):

(informal) Used between words to add emphasis to an exclamation or imperative.

(comics) Used in some comics instead of the period (.), ending all sentences, except those that use question marks, ellipses, etc.

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:

! [indicates a random encounter with a monster]

2015 September 15, Toby Fox, Undertale, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X:

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

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

TYPE: Mexico. Nayarit: Tepic, 10 Feb. 1927, Marcus E. Jones 23357 (holotype, POM not seen; isotype, US!).

2008 June, A Michele Funston, “Taxonomic Revision of Roldana (Asteraceae: Senecioneae), a Genus of the Southwestern U.S.A., Mexico, and Central America”, in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden, volume 95, number 2 (in English), page 307:

(botany) Placed after a herbarium abbreviation to indicate that the mentioned material held there has been examined directly by the author.

She particularly prefers to read fanfiction about hurt!Spock.

But it has been a while since we've seen Smart!Jack; I wouldn't mind seeing him again...

2000 October 3, Alli Snow, “comment and question”, in alt.tv.stargate-sg1 (Usenet), message-ID <8rehdg$7u2$1@nnrp1.deja.com>:

Some take great exception to Action!Scully thinking she should be a little more country than rock and roll in her delicate condition.

2000 December 12, Laura, “Since You've Been Gone”, in alt.tv.x-files (Usenet), message-ID <3A36ABBA.FE77CD07@erols.com>:

(Internet slang, fandom slang) Used to join a descriptor, such as a trait, with its referent, usually a character or relationship.


Derives from the punctus versus.
The Italian printer Aldus Manutius established the practice of using the semicolon mark to separate words of opposed meaning, and to indicate interdependent statements. The earliest, general use of the semicolon in English was in 1591.

Indicates a pause longer than the comma and shorter than a period/full stop.

Guests at the summit included David Cameron, the British Prime Minister; Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor; and François Hollande, the French President.

Separates items in a list where the list items themselves include commas.

Represents two eyes vertically aligned, the lower one winking, in order to form emoticons.

<?php echo '
Hello World
'; ?>

(programming) Marks the end of a statement in some programming languages.

(speech therapy) Used to separate the year and month of a child's age.


exclamation mark
exclamation mark#English

An exclamation mark and a question mark, used at the end of sentences to express panic, confusion or surprise.


He did what‽

The New York Times
W.W. Norton & Company
‽


6–10 years

Things to buy:

– Toilet paper

– Towels

– Could you direct me to the bus station?

– It's just on your right at the end of the road.

Alternative form of ― (indicates a quotation or a line of dialogue).

Curved single quotation marks and apostrophes

Straight single quotation mark and apostrophe


I have explained it to myself in the most satisfactory way;—but you, Elinor, who love to doubt where you can——It will not satisfy you I know; but you shall not talk me out of my trust in it.

1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume I, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, pages 182–183:

Demarcates parenthetical thought. See — —.

Bet anyone he can't correctly name the next highest number to every number which you will give him. […]
43 — he will say 44
87 — he will say 88
123 — he will say 124

1962, Jack Frohlichstein, Mathematical Fun, Games and Puzzles (in English), Courier Corporation, →ISBN, page 9:

Indicates aposiopesis, an abrupt breaking-off in speech. See also … (“the ellipsis”).

Refresh — This will refresh the current folder, updating it with any new files or settings.

2011, Adam Rizvi, Click Start to Begin: Windows XP Basics (in English), Click Start Publishing Ltd., →ISBN, page 22:

Alternative form of ― (“horizontal bar; quotation dash; introduces a line of dialogue”)

D—n the Devil .. he be going to eat me!!! — Rot me if he ain't as bloody minded as a Manchester butcher! Oh! dear! Oh! dear!! D—n your outlandish jaws!!

1820, Cruikshank, All among the Hottentots capering to shore (painting; in English):

D

Used to censor letters in obscene words.

I hope D—ds—y will look to theſe literal Errors, he being the only one of the Trade I can venture to truſt.

1748, a Lady, in a Letter to her Friend in the Country, A Free Comment on the Late Mr. W—g—n’s Apology for His Conduct; Which Clears Up the Obscurities of That Celebrated Posthumous Work, and Dissipates the Clouds in Which the Author Has Thought Proper to Envelope His Meaning (in English), London: […] W. Webb, page 15:

(dated, fiction) Used to replace part or all of a person's name, a place name, a date, or so forth.

Coordinate term: 〃

Valasky, Frank […]

1950, United States Census, New York, page listing Frank Valasky of New York City

Used as a ditto mark in lists or tables to indicate a repetition of appropriate content above.

(music) A pointing mark in Anglican chant, used as a placeholder in the text to indicate that a bar of the chant should be omitted; typically used when a verse or half-verse is very short.


F**k You!

Used to censor sections of obscene or profane words.

T*rks, K*rds

wh*te "people"

(Internet slang) Used to censor non-offensive words to treat them as insulting or profane.

analysis The process of breaking up *words, *phrases, *clauses, *sentences, *constructions, etc. into their *constituent parts.

2014, The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2nd edition (in English), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 25:

Used in a dictionary or similar work to indicate a cross-reference to another entry.

Used at the beginning of a footnote, especially if it is the only one on the page, and after a word, phrase, or sentence that this footnote relates to.

Total confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases: 7,102
 *One Florida case is listed here but included in the United Kingdom case counts because the individual was tested while in the UK.

2022 August 5, “Monkeypox 2022 U.S. Map & Case Count”, in [United States] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, archived from the original on 2022-08-05:

(by extension) Used at the beginning of a clarifying statement or disclaimer, especially if it is the only one on the page.

(cricket) Used to marks a score or statistic that is incomplete, such as the score of a batsman who is (or was) not out.

trans*

(chiefly computing) Uses especially in computing.

Used as a wildcard to denote zero or more characters.

(Internet) Used to indicate a field of a form that must be filled out.

I'm our of time. / *out

(Internet slang) Used before or after a word to show a correction has been made, chiefly by the same participant.

(genealogy) Used before a date to denote that it is a birthdate.

Used to form a dinkus, * * *, or asterism, ⁂.


Typographical simplification, particularly due to the use of typewriters, thence followed in computers: rather than having separate opening (“) and closing (”) quotation marks (and other keys for ″ and others), a single square key was used, to reduce the number of keys.

Used as a quotation mark in some languages. See " ".

An ASCII substitute for ″ (double prime, as in inches)

Zo"e sits on the chair.

Used after a letter as a nonstandard representation of an umlaut, diaeresis or hungarumlaut, when technical limitations prevent the use of one.


Represents a mouth vertically aligned, in order to form emoticons.


Near-synonym: ( )

A) New York, B) London, C) Paris.

a) New York, b) London, c) Paris.

1) New York, 2) London, 3) Paris.

I) New York, II) London, III) Paris.

Whether a specific moment in pop culture history—i.e. Madonna at the VMAs—or a callback to an iconic style decade—her '70s curtain bangs or '50s-style swimwear from the "Espresso" music video—these looks are A) easy to recreate and B) so wearable for repeated use after your tour date has come and gone.

2024 September 21, Heath Owens, “What to Wear to Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short N' Sweet' Tour”, in Cosmopolitan (in English):

Separates a letter or number from an item in a list.


An abbreviated form of the virgula, ⟨/⟩, used to indicate a pause. The modern form was first used by Aldus Manutius. The virgula replaced the earlier dot because dots differentiated only by height were difficult to distinguish in medieval minuscule text.

She sells dogs, cats, and birds.

Ella vende perros, gatos y pájaros.

Quando tiver uma dúvida, vá à biblioteca.

2000, J. K. Rowling, translated by Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Câmara Secreta [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets] (Harry Potter; 2), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 217:

When you are in doubt, go to the library.

the dull, incessant droning

Mr. Kershner says, “You should know how to use a comma.”

Optionally sets off quoted material that is the grammatical object of an active verb of speaking or writing.

Feb. 14, 1987, was the target date.

Donnerstag, 29. Juni 2023

Separates one element in a date from another.

Austin, Texas

Separates a region from a geographic place within.

Smith, John

Separates the surname from the given name when the traditional order is the reverse.

John Smith, PhD

The cat was white; the dog, brown.

I hope, John, that you will read this.

J’espère, Jean, que vous lirez ça.

Sets off a noun or pronoun that represents someone or something being spoken to (when used independently).

Choose View, Screen Show, Edit Effect to provide transition effects such as Fade and Blinds.

1995, Paul W. Ross, The Handbook of Software for Engineers and Scientists (in English), CRC Press, →ISBN, page 719:

Separates steps to do something in software.


An ASCII substitute for any of multiple characters with a similar shape:

A quotation mark, in some languages: see ' '.


Used as a quotation mark in some languages.


(informal) A substitute for the letter ⟨ʼ⟩ for glottal stop and ejective consonants in the orthographies of various languages of America, Africa, and the Pacific.

(informal, in transliterated Arabic and Hebrew text) A substitute for ⟨ʼ⟩ for hamza.

(informal, in transliterated Cyrillic text) A substitute for the modifying diacritic ⟨ʹ⟩ used to transliterate the soft sign ⟨ь⟩ and palatalized consonants.

(international standards) transliteration of Sanskrit avagraha ऽ (or equivalents)


There are two primary theories of the origin of the question mark. One is that ⟨?⟩ descends from the punctus interrogativus ⟨⹔⟩, which instructed the reader (or singer) to raise the pitch of their voice while coming to a stop.
Another theory is that it derives from overset Qo, an abbreviation of Latin quaestio (“question”), placed at the end of a question to mark it as such, and analogous to the derivation of ⟨!⟩.
There are no documented intermediary forms to support one theory over the other.

For the reversed question mark used in some right-to-left scripts

Latin script
Appendix:Latin script#English

Used in various left-to-right scripts, including notably the Latin script, to mark the preceding sentence as a question.

Character #1: "I have no time to explain! Have you seen a Big Bad Wolf blowing down various houses?"

Character #2: "?"

(comics, Internet slang) Used by itself to convey that the speaker is confused.

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.
I have never { worked / been working } on a dissertation
This time tomorrow I { will / ^(??)am going to } be driving to London.

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:

(linguistics) Marks the following word or phrase as questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason.


head

¶ (plural ¶¶, English name pilcrow or paragraph mark)

pilcrow (English name)
paragraph mark (English name)

A graphic variation of the Fraktur capital letter cee, ℭ, an abbreviation of Latin Capitulo (“heading”).

Abby Akari Alishio first came out as queer three years ago. ¶ “I started crying before I even said anything,” said Alishio. ¶ She was 19, and a couple of years out of West Seattle High School, where she’d spent four years feeling like she couldn’t safely explore her queerness or learn about queer community.

2021 October 10, Crystal Paul, “The future of coming out”, in The Seattle Times, archived from the original on 2021-11-04, page E1:

A beginning of a paragraph; paragraph break; hard return.


A question mark and an exclamation mark, used at the end of sentences to express both wondering and panicky emotion.


How are you going to pay for this??

A double question mark, used at the end of sentences as an emphasized version of %3F, to make questions with more weight and importance, as if demanding an answer.

semantic-pragmatic reason
semantic-pragmatic disorder

(linguistics) Very questionable for a grammatical or semantic-pragmatic reason.


The danda, a punctuation mark of many Indic scripts, equivalent to the English period (.).


used when omitting a section in quoted text

“I thank you for the gift, Dr. Yueh,” Paul said, speaking formally. “It will be our secret. If there is a gift or favor you wish from me, please do not hesitate to ask.”
"I . . . need for nothing," Yueh said.

1965, Frank Herbert, Dune (Science Fiction; in English), New York: Ace Books, →OCLC, page 48:

One critic described the novel as "not the greatest he has written, but ... perhaps the most memorable".

Sinto muito ter de contradizê-la, Minerva, mas, como pode ver no meu bilhete, Harry tem obtido resultados muito fracos nas minhas aulas…

2003, J. K. Rowling, translated by Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix] (Harry Potter; 5), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 538:

I'm sorry to contradict you, Minerva, but, as you can see in my note, Harry has obtained very weak results in my classes…

Indicates trailing off at the end of a sentence.

― You're 35, you still live with your mother, you have no job, no hope, no prospects, what's the point of even going on?

(Internet slang, text messaging) A response used to express being at a loss for words, such as due to annoyance, shock, or confusion.

Boomer ellipses

(text messaging, dated) Separates different ideas or messages within the same text message. (In modern usage, multiple messages would be sent instead.)

Save as...

Find and replace...

(computing) Indicates that a computer command will request further information, typically by opening a dialog box.

Free training ... with pay ... in the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps

1944, advert for the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps in Life magazine, Volume 16, Number 4 (page 31)

A relieved world then will eagerly turn to the task of reclaiming the destruction wrought by Mars ... A tremendous task, filled with infinite possibilities ... A profitable task, according to how well you are prepared to do your part in the rehabilitation

1944, McGraw-Hill, Engineering and Mining Journal, volume 145 (in English), page 54:

1951, advert for IBM in Fortune magazine, volume 44 number 6, December 1951, page 55.

Thousands of IBM business machines ... critical to our nation's defense ... are at work for science, industry, and the armed forces

Adds...subtracts...multiplies...divides...instantly & electronically!

1973, advert for MIT calculators in Radio-Electronics, January issue, page 15

(chiefly advertising, dated) Links loosely related clauses and surrounds parentheticals in the manner of the comma, semicolon or em dash

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.

(typography) May be, or form part of, a leader: a series of dots used as a visual aid to connect items in lists, such as chapter headers to page numbers in a table of contents.


ideographic full stop
ideographic full stop


(stenoscript) a period / full stop [a simple dot has other uses]


(informal, in transliterated Cyrillic text) A substitute for the modifying diacritic ⟨ʺ⟩ used to transliterate the hard sign ⟨ъ⟩.


(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 to mark line breaks in verse. (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.

Never gonna give you up / Never gonna let you down

Used to denote a line or paragraph break when quoting poems, scripts, song lyrics, etc. in a single-line format.

QUIT? Y/N

(computing) Used to separate commands or keys that can be typed, usually in a command prompt.

s/he

Freund/innen; ein/e Beamt/er/in (in German)

friends (of any gender); an officer (of any gender)

(sometimes proscribed) Used to separate multiple gendered inflections in "gender-neutral" writing.

/fliptable

(informal, text messaging) Used to show that the following text is to be understood as an action or programming command performed by the writer, in the manner of an online chat command.

I support him completely /sarcasm

(informal, programming, text messaging) Denotes a given attribute of the preceding content in the manner of a closing tag. See tone tag.

(computing) Used to separate the nested directory levels in a file or URL path.

operating system
operating system#English

(when used in isolation) The root path of a Unix or Unix-like operating system.

£10/– is ten quid even.

(numismatics, sometimes proscribed) Used to separate base currency units from their subdivisions; or, when followed by a dash or hyphen marking an even sum.

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.

(proofreading) Used to denote the end of a marginal note, or to separate two such notes.

9/11 is September 11th to most Americans but the 9th of November in the British Isles.

Used in place of a dash or hyphen in several contexts.

(usually informal) Used to separate the components of a date.

Santa Claus is said to visit all the world’s children on the night of December 24/25.

Used to mark a period spanning two dates, such as the night beginning on one day and ending on the next, or the winter spanning two years.

We coded that over the fall term of our senior year, 2010-09-01/12-22.

(international standards) Used to mark normal date ranges.

I got a grade of 85/100 on the midterm test.

Used to separate a particular amount (such as a score) or location (such as a page) from the total number of possible points or similar items; out of.

Her approval numbers stand at 42/23, meaning she presently has a net favorability of +19 but that a large number of voters remain undecided.

(politics) Used to separate percentages for and against or approving and disapproving (always in that order) in poll results.

Our rent is $600/mo.

The formal abbreviation for kilometers per hour is km/h.

The exchange rate of euros in terms of dollars is expressed EUR/USD.

Used to form abbreviations of units derived through division : per.

w/ (with), w/o (without), b/c (because), and 24/7 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week).

Used to form numerous contractions and initialisms, particularly of two-word phrases.

The American Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation is formally abbreviated FAA/AST.

Used in some contexts to mark hierarchies.

(Internet slang, originally Japanese, derived from manga iconography (漫符)) Indicates blushing. Used at the end of a sentence. Usually used more than once.

(obsolete) A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.

(obsolete) A medieval form of the period ⟨.⟩.

See / / for uses of the slash to enclose other characters, as in /pɹənʌnsiˈeɪʃənz/.


‡ (English name diesis or double dagger or double obelus)

diesis (English name)
double dagger (English name)
double obelus (English name)

" In the year 1452 the king Prabu* sent envoys to court with tribute.
" In the year 1460 the king Tu-ma-pan (Tumapel?)† sent envoys to carry tribute. When these envoys went back, and had arrived at An-ch’ing,‡ they got drunk and had a fight with foreign priests who came to bring tribute, and of whom six were killed.

1887, W. P. Groeneveldt, “Notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca”, in Miscellaneous Papers Relating to Indo-China and the Indian Archipelago, volume I (in English), London: Trübner & Co., →OCLC, page 165:

(chemistry) Indicates a transition state species


Seven mutants -- gifted (though many might say cursed) at birth with powers that set them forever apart from the mainstream of humanity, too often feared and hated by those who they have sworn to protect -- banded together by Charles Xavier and sent forth to play the role of heroes.

1987, “Armageddon Now!”, in Classic X-Men (in English), section #15:

I'm telling you -- the hobos! THE HOBOS!

2001 November 20, Dane Martin, “Re: I'm skipping school today...”, in alt.litterbox (Usenet; in English), message-ID <20011120152118.09919.00000942@mb-fh.aol.com>:

Informal form of – (en dash) or — (em dash), in use due to technical restrictions or convenience of entry.


* ⸘: Superimposition of ¡ and ¿.
* ‽: Superimposition of ! and ?.

Encloses an emphatic question in some languages.


(Ogham) marks beginning of text, e.g. ᚛ᚑᚌᚐᚋ᚜


ـ

The kashida or tatweel, a character used for lengthening words in cursive scripts, in most cases to justify them.

(typography) A carrier for vowel diacritic, used to display the diacritic without a base letter.


(lexicography) Used in some dictionaries when a hyphenated word breaks on the hyphen at the end of a line.

(palaeography, Coptic) Conventionally used in modern texts to indicate a pre-pronominal form in Coptic grammar, as opposed to the simple hyphen for other uses.


An asterism, a rare symbol used to separate sections within a chapter of a book.

(rare) Used to call attention to a passage.


Guillemet. Used as a quotation mark in some languages.


Double guillemet. Used as a quotation mark in some languages.


At a sharp bend in the river, the little walled-town of Shih-shou Hsien, on the slopes of several little wooded hills, two of which are crowned by temples (430 ft. high) ; this is the « chief-place » of a district in the prefecture of Ching-chou Fu.

1912, Northern China, The Valley of the Blue River, Korea (in English), Hachette & Company, →OCLC, page 400:


― (English name quotation dash or horizontal bar)

quotation dash (English name)
horizontal bar (English name)

― Harry, você não pode mencionar uma coisa dessas numa carta! [...] ― Tudo bem, tudo bem, então não vou contar a ele, tampouco!

2003, J. K. Rowling, translated by Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix] (Harry Potter; 5), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 231:

― Harry, you can't mention such a thing in a letter! … ― All right, all right, so I won't tell him either.

The quotation dash; introduces quoted text.


syl‐lab‐i‐fi‐ca‐tion

Separates certain pieces of text.
Separates syllables.

W‐O‐R‐D spells "word".

Separates letters to indicate the spelling of a word.

35¢ TUBE LASTS AND L‐A‐S‐T‐S

1945 April 30, ad for Listerine shaving cream in LIFE, vol. 18, no. 18, page 7

Separates certain pieces of text.
Separates letters to indicate emphasis.

We, therefore, the represen‐

Splits a word across a line break (called hyphenation).

Happiness ends with ‐ness.

Marks a point where a morpheme (a suffix, a prefix, etc.) is supposed to be attached to a word.

freeze‐dry

Connects certain pieces of text.
Connects words in compound terms.

Chandler‐Mather

Connects names in some compound surnames.

nineteenth‐ and twentieth‐century

Indicates common parts of repeated compounds.

Bee #1: It‐is‐good‐that‐we‐do‐all‐the‐work‐and‐the‐queen‐gets‐all‐the‐sex‐
Bee #2: Yes‐good‐for‐the‐hive

1990, Larry Gonick, The Cartoon History of the Universe (in English), page 25:

Connects words in some situations, akin to a space.

1789‐07‐14 (the date of the first Bastille Day)

In dates, connects the year, the month and the day.

W‐w‐would you marry me?

This is a cat‐astrophe!

G‐d


Used as a quotation mark in some languages.


A symbol used to mark a section of a document in the Ethiopic script.


More information
Invented by Louis Braille, braille cells were arranged in numerical order and assigned to the letters of the French alphabet. Most braille alphabets follow this assignment for the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet or, in non-Latin scripts, for the transliterations of those letters. In such alphabets, the first ten braille letters (the first decade: ⠁⠃⠉⠙⠑⠋⠛⠓⠊⠚) are assigned to the Latin letters A to J and to the digits 1 to 9 and 0. (Apart from '2', the even digits all have three dots: ⠃⠙⠋⠓⠚.)
The letters of the first decade are those cells with at least one dot in the top row and at least one in the left column, but none in the bottom row. The next decade repeat the pattern with the addition of a dot at the lower left, the third decade with two dots in the bottom row, and the fourth with a dot on the bottom right. The fifth decade is like the first, but shifted downward one row. The first decade is supplemented by the two characters with dots in the right column and none in the bottom row, and that supplement is propagated to the other decades using the generation rules above. Finally, there are four characters with no dots in the top two rows. Many languages that use braille letters beyond the 26 of the basic Latin alphabet follow an approximation of the English or French values for additional letters.

⠸⠃ ˈ◌, ⠸⠆ ˌ◌, ⠸⠳|, ⠸⠿ ‖, ⠸⠇ ◌‿◌, ⠸⠮ ꜜ, ⠸⠫ ꜛ, ⠸⠙ ↗, ⠸⠴ ↘

(IPA Braille) Marks non-combining modifiers, such as prosody marks and tone letters


(German Braille) „ (opening quotation mark)


Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠜⟩: ⡜ ⢜ ⣜


Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠈⟩: ⡈ ⢈ ⣈


(German Braille) ? (question mark) [as in French Braille]

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠢⟩: ⡢ ⢢ ⣢


⠁ 1, ⠃ 2, ⠉ 3, ⠙ 4, ⠑ 5, ⠋ 6, ⠛ 7, ⠓ 8, ⠊ 9, ⠚ 0

used to indicate that the subsequent Braille characters are to be read as digits rather than as letters


(Thai Braille) the reduplication mark, ๆ


(German Braille) (the section marker, §)


(German Braille) “ (closing quotation mark)


An ellipsis between round brackets: … + ( ).


Once again Yeroen is the aggressor, provoked by Luit's displays. Together with Gorilla and Puist, Yeroen chases Luit at full speed, screaming as he runs. Luit is also screaming. Just when Yeroen succeeds in catching up with Luit, Yeroen accidentally (?) goes head over heels. After this the chase continues but ends abruptly when both males flee up a tree and the two females do not follow.

1998, Frans de Waal, “Two Power Takeovers”, in Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex among Apes, Revised edition (in English), Johns Hopkins University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, Natural History/Politics, page 100:

Marks a dubious statement / spelling / meaning.

The provincial capital of Heilungchiang closely adjoins the Russian frontier town of Hailanpao (?) and international questions are constantly arising. At the request of the Governor the Tsungli Yamên appointed Keng Shan, a pupil of the Tung-wên-kuan, with nominal rank as a second class secretary of a board, to co-operate with the Deputy Lieutenant-General stationed there in the management of international affairs.

1892 [1891 January], “Promotion of an Officer on the Russian Frontier”, in Translation of the Peking Gazette for 1891 (in English), Shanghai, →OCLC, page 18, column 1:

Is the Pope Catholic(?)

(especially closed captioning) Indicates a question asked with a sarcastic tone of voice.


Despite his bizarre claims that all feminists are rapists (!), his paper has some salient points.

His official titles were: President, God (!) and the Master of Knowledge and the Arts.

Herr David Urquhart bemerkt in seinen "Familiar Words" über das Ungeheuerliche (!), daß heutzutage ein Pfund (£ St.), die Einheit des englischen Geldmaßstabs, gleich ungefähr 1/4 Unze Gold ist: "Das ist Fälschung eines Maßes und nicht Festsetzung eines Maßstabs.

1867, Karl Marx, chapter 3, in Das Kapital […] , I: Der Produktionsprocess des Kapitals, Hamburg: Otto Meissner:

David Urquhart remarks in his "Familiar Words" on the monstrosity (!) that now-a-days a pound (sterling), which is the unit of the English standard of money, is equal to about a quarter of an ounce of gold. "This is falsifying a measure, not establishing a standard."

Holdningen til den frækhed og kreativitet der ligger i brugen af slang, har ændret sig i positiv retning siden en dansk professor i 1866 under pseudonym (!) udgav "Bidrag til en Ordbog over Gadesproget og saakaldt daglig Tale".

2011, Agnete Elmose, edited by Lars Damkjær, Benedicte Kieler, and Karen Thygesen, Sprogets veje, 2 edition (in Danish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 122:

The attitude of the audacity and creativity that lies in the use of slang has changed positively since a Danish professor in 1866 under a pseudonym (!) published "Contribution to a Dictionary of Colloquial Language and so-called Daily Speech."

Used to draw attention to a particular statement, or suggests that the writer thinks it is remarkable or nonsensical.

Yeah, that should work(!) (in English)

(especially closed captioning) Indicates a sarcastic tone of voice.


`lcub`

⎧ legislature

government ⎨ executive

⎩ judiciary

Used to add a comment to the left of and encompassing one or more lines, or to indicate that items to the right are subdivisions of the item on the left. Compare }.

{3, 6} is an array of two integers (e.g. coordinates), while {5, 2, 7, 6, 2} is an array of five integers.

Used to start an array literal in mathematics.


`rcub`

A ⎫

B ⎬ these are a few letters of the alphabet

C ⎭

† AT'TRY, ⎫ a. [A.S. atter, poison.] Poison-
† AT'TER-LY, ⎭ ous; virulent. Chaucer.

Joseph Emerson Worcester, A Dictionary of the English Language, volume 1

Used to add a comment to the right of and encompassing one or more lines, or to indicate that items to the left are subdivisions of the item on the right. Compare {.

Used to indicate that two or three lines of a poem form a doublet or triplet.


The space left from omitting a word divider such as ⟨⸱⟩.

a visual symbol that represents the space

A word divider: marks the separation between words written in various scripts, including Latin and Greek.

You are the son of God (referring to Jesus)

你是 神的兒子

你是 神的儿子

1934 November 11, “校史 [xiàoshǐ]”, in 《國立中山大學成立十週年新校落成紀念冊》, page 1:

Kuàng běnxiào wéi zǒnglǐ suǒ shǒuchuàng, yú dǎngguó guānxì mí qiè.

In addition, our school was founded by the Premier [of Kuomintang, i.e. Sun Yat-sen] himself, and is closely related to the Party and Country.

況本校爲 總理所手創，於黨國關係彌切。

况本校为 总理所手创，于党国关系弥切。

(East Asia) The ideographic (fullwidth) space ( ) is placed before a name to indicate respect.

司馬 遷 [Chinese]

永 六輔 [Japanese]

(East Asia) Used as a delimiter to separate the family name from the given name.

This idea is a m a z i n g.

Placed between each letter in a word to emphasize it, both in broad historical use and in modern situations where italics or boldface are unavailable, as in fraktur typefaces or plain-text electronic documents.


A simplification of the punctus elevatus, ⟨⹎⟩.

Mary gave advice to her children: a stitch in time saves nine.

Patient: Is there a doctor in here?

Luruns could not speak: he was drunk.

Introduces a sentence with the role of apposition with respect to the previous one.

There was only one possible explanation: the train had never arrived

Introduces the logical consequence, or effect, of a fact stated before.

Separation of clauses in a periodic sentence.

The train leaves at 5:40.

Separates hours, minutes, and seconds when reporting time.

Alternative form: ∶ (U+2236 RATIO)

There is a 5:4 ratio of boys to girls in my class.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Separation of a title and the corresponding subtitle.

John 3:14–16 (or John III:14–16)

(information science) Separate elements of a bibliographic reference, such as chapter and verses of the bible, or volumes and pages of a work.

I agree, most of the people who are listening to Whitesnake/Skid Row/Guns-n-Roses-Dude/insert_your_favorite_cheese_metal_band now will have forgotten about them in a few years. I don't think you can say the same of, say, Fates Warning, King's X, or the older metal bands (Black Sabbath version 1, Blue O:yster Cult, Moto:rhead, arguably Aerosmith).

1990 January 26, porpentine [username], “Re: Mommy! Gene hit me first!”, in alt.rock-n-roll.metal (Usenet; in English):

Used after a letter as a nonstandard representation of an umlaut or diaeresis, when technical limitations prevent the use of one.

A new species of fly (Diptera: Tachinidae: Musca)

(taxonomy) Separates different levels of an abbreviated taxonomy.

(music) A pointing mark in Anglican chant, which marks the place which splits a verse in two, corresponding to the central double barline in a two-part chant (unless otherwise indicated by ‖).

triangular colon
triangular colon#English

For the IPA triangular colon symbol, which marks long vowels, see ː.

For the "modifier colon" symbol, used in some languages for long vowels, see ꞉.

For the Hebrew and Aramaic punctuation mark which marks the end of a passage, see ׃.

For the six-dot Braille characters consisting of two vertically-aligned dots, see ⠃, ⠅, ⠆, ⠘, ⠨, ⠰.

For the eight-dot Braille extension characters consisting of two vertically-aligned dots, see ⡁, ⡂, ⡄, ⢈, ⢐, ⢠.


`period`

full stop (English name)
period (English name)

The periodos of Aristophanes of Byzantium, ca. 200 BCE. Originally there were three dots: ⟨·⟩ at mid height (the comma), ⟨.⟩ at the baseline (the colon), and ⟨˙⟩ at capital height (the periodos). When minuscule writing became common, it proved difficult to make a three-way height distinction, and only the periodos was retained, though it shifted to the baseline.

Indicates the end of a sentence or passage of text.

etc.

Mr J. Smith

A. New York, B. London, C. Paris.

a. New York, b. London, c. Paris.

1. New York, 2. London, 3. Paris.

I. New York, II. London, III. Paris.

Separates a number or letter from an item in a list.

I. Don’t. Wanna. Hear.

(informal) Used between words to indicate staccato speech with emphasis laid on every word.

4., IV.

Used at the end of numerals.
Indicates ordinal numerals.

Used at the end of numerals.
(obsolete) Indicates cardinal numbers.

Used at the end of numerals.
Indicates cardinal numbers.

10.1.4.6 How to make a profit

Used in numbered section or subsection titles, separates the sections and subsections.

Map 1.4 Distribution of tigers in Africa

Map 1.5 Distribution of elephants in Africa

Used in numbered images, illustrations, maps, graphs, etc.

Introduction..................................13
Chapter 1.....................................14
Chapter 2.....................................19

table of contents
table of contents#English

Used repeatedly in the table of contents of a book to separate the name of a chapter, section, image, etc., from the page number where it is found.

Brisbane Lions 20.14 (134) defeated Collingwood 12.12 (84)

Brisbane Lions 20.14.134 defeated Collingwood 12.12.84

Australian rules football
Australian rules football

(Australian rules football) Used to separate a team’s number of goals from its number of behinds, and sometimes from its total score.


punctus percontativus
punctus percontativus#English

(late medieval texts) punctus percontativus, used to mark rhetorical questions.


A coronis, an elaborate symbol that marks the end of a text.


O que significa...?

2003, J. K. Rowling, translated by Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix [Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix] (Harry Potter; 5), Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, →ISBN, page 415:

An incomplete question, usually for emotional effect.


(typography) May be, or form part of, a leader: a series of dots used as a visual aid to connect items in lists, such as chapter headers to page numbers in a table of contents.


Ι̅Σ̅ Χ̅Σ̅, a Greek abbreviation of Jesus Christ.

Used in some languages to mark abbreviations.


Marks a separation between words (as a continuation of the stemline) as written in various Ogham.


(Ethiopic Braille) the word divider, ⟨፡⟩


(Ethiopic Braille) the asterisk. [Presumably as a generic mark for footnotes.]


scriptio continua
scriptio continua#English

(originally in scriptio continua, now chiefly historical or archaic) indicating:


The double hyphen is used in order to avoid confusion with ᐨ (“-c”).

The hyphen used in the Canadian Aboriginal syllabary.


The capitulum, a typographic symbol to mark chapters or paragraphs, now evolved into the pilcrow: ⟨¶⟩.


May be used to enclose a quotation in Finnish and Swedish, in place of the more usual ” ”.


Malus domestica 'Red Delicious'

(taxonomy) Encloses a cultivar epithet in the names of plant cultivars.

''1'' is text; 1 without quotation marks is a number.

programming language
programming language

(programming) Encloses a string literal in some programming languages.


An early typographic substitute for › ‹, which were not widely available in metal type.


Inward guillemets. Enclose a quotation in some languages.


For quotations using this term, see Citations:” ”.


Guillemets. Enclose a quotation in some languages.

(textual criticism, palaeography) Denotes conjectured or emendated characters because the text was transmitted wrongly or just broken away.


Encloses a quotation in CJK languages, specifically an embedded (inner) quotation where corner brackets are the usual quotation marks.


Double inward guillemets. Enclose a quotation in some languages.


An early typographic substitute for » «, which were not widely available in metal type outside of France.


John said: "No, don't do that."

His "solution" only caused more problems.

Peking's official New China News Agency said the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued the 425th "serious" warning against the U.S. "provocations."

1967 February 22, “Chinese Charge Plane Intruded Over Island”, in Pottstown Mercury, volume 36, number 126, Pottstown, PA, sourced from TOKYO (AP), page 2, column 4:

Encloses text that the author does not approve. See scare quotes.

You should dump him. You don't even need to be rude. Just be "unavailable".

(sarcastic) Encloses text with a sarcastic tone.

Indicates that the enclosed text uses a figurative meaning.

"Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" is the first episode of The Simpsons.

Encloses a title of a work that appears within a larger work, such as an episode of a TV series, a short story, a poem or a newspaper article.

Do "not" open the door.

"1" is text, 1 without quotation marks is a number.

(programming) Encloses a string literal in some programming and markup languages.

Search for "heads or tails" for the exact phrase. If you forget the quotation marks, you'll surely see results with "heads" and "tails" separately.

(computing) In some search engines, searches for the exact word of phrase.


A British substitute for « », which were not widely available in metal type when quotation marks were introduced from France.


`lsqb`...`rsqb`

An ellipsis between square brackets: … + [ ].

Authority is based first of all upon reason. If you command your subjects to jump into the ocean, there will be a revolution. I am entitled to command obedience because my orders are reasonable.

Authority is based first of all upon reason. […] I am entitled to command obedience because my orders are reasonable.

The same quotation with an omitted section

Used to substitute parts of a quotation that are deliberately omitted.


`lcub` `rcub`

Select your animal {goat, sheep, cow, horse} and follow me.

We can write la{t,d}er for the conflated pronunciation of ladder and latter in American English. This may instead be written ⫽laDer⫽, where ⫽D⫽ is the archiphoneme {t, d}, or with both conventions for {laDer}.

(phonology) Encloses morphophonemic transcription; especially when presented as sets of phonemes rather than as single symbols for archiphonemes.

(papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses writing by the original scribe that the editor considers erroneous.


The second /l/ in the English word "little" is actually pronounced [ɫ̩], not that people usually notice.

(linguistics) Encloses phonemic transcription.

1999 March 21, Raymond McKeithen II, “Re: Super GT is NOT coming to DC...” rec.games.video.sega, Usenet

I tried to find this sort of information in some of the reviews of DC SR2, but /every/ one I've read (fansites and professional) was written from the graphics-whore-viewpoint, and didn't talk much about such "nonessential" things as gameplay or car selection and handling.

Yes, you /can/ win by sitting in the wheels consistently and never doing any work. But it isn't admirable.

2010, "Simon Brooke", Re: SPOILER (stage 8) - days when you wish the stage was 5k longer.... (on newsgroup uk.rec.cycling.moderated)

(Internet, text messaging) Encloses text that should be taken as italicized; generally used in contexts where true italics are unavailable.


At a sharp bend in the river, the little walled-town of Shih-shou Hsien, on the slopes of several little wooded hills, two of which are crowned by temples (430 ft. high) ; this is the « chief-place » of a district in the prefecture of Ching-chou Fu.


`lowbar` `lowbar`

There's a scene in _Return of the Jedi_ where some little humanoid makes some remarks in an unidentified language.

1999 December 16, Dorothy J Heydt, “Re: Yourself in your work was Re: Colons”, in rec.arts.sf.composition (Usenet; in English), message-ID <FMuBI8.88w@kithrup.com>

So far, there's very little in the WoD that strikes me as Marvelish. I don't mind the occasional "returns from the dead" kind of story, but it seems to be looking like _every_ Antideluvian has faked/will fake their own deaths at one time or another.

2000 March 20, Webwalker [username], “Re: [Vampire] Ravnos”, in alt.games.whitewolf (Usenet; in English):

You could have asked: is there a reason this easy patch was not applied, either on IRC or private mail by me. You did write a comment on IRC and I did see it. Problem is that you did not highlight me _and_ you did not wait for an answer.

2006, "Frans Pop", Re: Bug#378404: installation guide: one more additional proposal (on newsgroup linux.debian.maint.boot)

(Internet slang) Encloses plain text that would be underlined or italicized if formatting was available.


Encloses an exclamation in some languages.


This is a *big* problem.

2020 May 26, “The White House is getting *very* worried about the Senate majority”, in CNN (in English), retrieved 2020-10-02:

(Internet slang) Encloses a word or phrase to indicate emphasis; especially, used in plain-text contexts to simulate italics or boldface.

I have something for you! *gives her a cookie*

stares absentmindedly at the wall*

facepalm*

internal screaming*

[King Knight defeats Specter Knight.] / Specter Knight: '*PANT* YOU ARE IMPUDENT, BUT QUICK ON YOUR FEET... INTERESTING.'

2019 December 10, Yacht Club Games, Shovel Knight: King of Cards (in English), Nintendo 3DS, level/area: Spectral Ravine:

Okay, now show of hands if Millie Bobby Brown was one of those actors for you. (*assumes thousands of digital hands just went up*)

2022 May 15, Kayleigh Roberts, “Millie Bobby Brown Does a Spot-On Anna Delvey Impression That You *Must* Hear”, in Cosmopolitan:

If you're reading this mere days before your show date (felt), place a one-two punch Amazon order of a pink hospital gown and fake blood and call it a day. If I were going to the tour *sigh* this is the section I'd be shopping.

2024 September 21, Heath Owens, “What to Wear to Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short N' Sweet' Tour”, in Cosmopolitan (in English):

(chiefly Internet slang) Encloses an interpretation; an action described as if it were actually happening; in English, typically written in the third person.


John said, “Run!”

For quotations using this term, see Citations:“ ”.


( ) (English name parentheses or round brackets)

parentheses (English name)
round bracket s (English name)

Sen. John McCain (R., Arizona) spoke at length.

I gave it to Fred (who was going there anyways) before I left.

Go get the dog(s)

Here, s is a shorthand for the plural dogs.

You should (re)write that story.

Blue is my favo(u)rite colo(u)r.

Here, u is an alternative spelling (color/colour).

A variable with persistence that is currently above (below) its mean will tend not go below (above) its mean for some time.

(S)he likes dogs.

Antarctica /ænˈtɑɹ(k)tɪkə/, terminator /ˈtɜːmɪneɪtə(ɹ)/

Encloses optional variants or variant elements of words, inflections, spellings or pronunciations.

Envy: What's this for? Is this for the band?
Scott: It's... It's for you. I wrote a song.
(weird pause)
Envy: Why?

2006, “Scott Pilgrim & the Infinite Sadness”, in Scott Pilgrim, volume 3 (in English):

(1) New York, (2) London, (3) Paris.

(A) New York, (B) London, (C) Paris.

Scott: Can I get some free candy? Can you make it happen? Just some chocolate, maybe?
Wallace: No, because (A) you'll take half an hour to decide what you want, and (B) no sugar for you!!

When a sudden rainstorm interrupts your plans for a date, you have some choices: (a) brave the weather, (b) choose an equally fun indoor activity, (c) straight up refuse to leave the house and instead stay in together, or (d) be that person who asks for a last-minute raincheck (don’t be that person).

2024 August 6, Gena Kaufman, “33 Rainy-Day Date Ideas That Aren’t Another Movie”, in Glamour (in English):

Encloses a letter or number starting an item in a list.

(papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses restored elements of text that were (intentionally) omitted by the original scribe as an abbreviation.

(phonetics) A transcription delimiter for silent utterances. It may enclose a transcription of a mouthed utterance derived from lip-reading, such as (ʃːː), or of the length of a pause between utterances, such as (1.3 sec). (...), (..) and (.) are used for increasingly brief pauses.

Used as quotation marks (e.g. in Arabic).


`lsqb` `rsqb`

The leading doctrine of the Macedonians is found in the thesis characterized by their opponents as ‘Pneumatomachian,’ viz. that the Holy Spirit is not to be designated Θεός (frag. 32, lines 1–8, Dial. c. Maced. i. 1 [p. 1292 A]; frag. 29, Did. de Trin. iii. xxxvi. [p. 965 B]).

1915, Friedrich Loofs, “Macedonianism”, in edited by James Hastings, John A[lexander] Selbie, and Louis H[erbert] Gray, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, volume VIII (Life and Death–Mulla) (in English), Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, […]; New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, […], page 225, column 2:

The diorite torso of a hunter holds almost the same attitude, except that he poises his spear low, as if striking (H. 23⅜ in. [59.3 cm.]).

1924, The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, volume 19 (in English), page 241:

Like Achilles, he alacritously chose a short life of fame and in short order developed into a full-blown berserk, complete with contortions (riastrad: eye trick, mouth stretched from ear to ear, hair standing on end as if by static electricity, magic halo [lūan lāith ‘warrior’s moon’] over his head), but also subject to the multiple geis or tabu that shadows the Irish hero.

1987, Jaan Puhvel, “Celtic Myth”, in Comparative Mythology (in English), Baltimore, Md., London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, published 1988 (2nd printing), →ISBN, part II (Traditions), page 185:

It might be better thought of as the removal of the routinely assumed footing (to use Goffman’s phrase [Goffman 1981]), […] a similar transformation of the footing must often be identified (for recent interesting discussion of “footing” and the complexity of participant roles in discourse, see Levinson [1988]). […] One influential paper on metaphor concludes by suggesting that most metaphor works “by reference to analogies that are known to relate the two domains” (Rumelhart 1979: 89).

1996, Michael Toolan, “Metaphor”, in Total Speech: An Integrational Linguistic Approach to Language (Post-Contemporary Interventions) (in English), Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 64:

Ishii also shared chikuwa (fish sausage) and boiled egg from his bentō lunch-box with the monkeys (he told me that the monkeys even eat tsukemono pickles and umeboshi [pickled plums]).

2011, John Knight, “[Working with Monkeys] Knowing the Monkeys”, in Herding Monkeys to Paradise: How Macaque Troops are Managed for Tourism in Japan (Human-Animal Studies; 10) (in English), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 267:

Don’t use sets of parentheses inside each other. Instead, use square brackets if you must put parenthetical information within parentheses.
Like this
Australia’s Parliament House (architects Mitchell/Giurgola & Thorp [New York]) opened on 9 May 1988.

2021 September 6, “Brackets and parentheses”, in Australian Government Style Manual (in English), archived from the original on 2021-09-20:

Encloses parenthetical information within parentheses ⟨( )⟩.

[Luke,] I am your father.

Encloses alterations in quoted text.
Encloses text added as an explanation.

He said, "[d]on't do it!"

Encloses alterations in quoted text.
Encloses orthographical alterations.

(papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses restored writing that was present in the original text but has since become damaged or broken away.

(textual criticism, palaeography) Denotes a text deemed interpolated.

Encloses alterations in quoted text.
Denotes a text deemed interpolated.

Encloses alterations in quoted text.
See [...] for omissions in quoted text.

Talk about sloooooowww. It’s like 5-minutes odd to boot up on a brand new laptop with so much anti-virus [poop] and gizmo [poop] on it.

2007 April 6, Alison, quotee, Atari Online News Etc., volume 9, number 14 (in English), [https://archive.org/details/a-one-914/page/n3/mode/2up page [4]]:

I wouldn't know! [Laughs.] (in English)

I would describe him as an A&R of pop culture. He's a really multidimensional person that has so much to offer. He knows so many people, he loves art and he was a very huge moving factor in us meeting. Thank you, Thom [Muah].

2024 May 10, Justin Moran, quoting Isaac Dunbar, “Isaac Dunbar and Kerri Colby Were Built for This”, in Paper (in English):

Encloses nonverbal sounds or responses in transcribed speech.

Two distinct types of lupus erythematosus are recognized: [1] chronic or discoid, which is essentially a skin lesion, and [2] severe systemic, designated as acute.

1954 February 15, Henry E. Michelson, “The Syndrome of Lupus Erythematosus”, in Modern Medicine, volume 22, number 4 (in English), Minneapolis, Minn.: Modern Medicine Publications, Inc., page 96:

Encloses a number starting an item in a list.

I, [your name], hereby declare that the information provided is correct.

With her dance background, expect her to flip, kick, split and [insert name of other gravity-defying drag tricks here] on the stage, but she’s also been known to chuck in a tribute to Charity Shop Sue every now and then.

2024 September 12, Sam Damshenas, “‘A new direction for the franchise’: Drag Race UK stars on “mind-blowing” season 6”, in Gay Times (in English):

Encloses placeholder text in a form etc. intended to be replaced by the user.

(linguistics) Encloses phonetic transcription.

(grammar) Encloses an ellipsis in phonology or grammar.

DROP TABLE tbl_name [, tbl_name] ...

(computing, programming) Encloses optional parameters in syntax help.


`num` `num`

Happy birthday to you. #

(television) Encloses subtitled text that is sung or in a singsong intonation.


Coordinate term: /

Used to denote a new stanza or verse when quoting a poem or song lyric in a single-line format.

int x = random() // Defines x as a random number.

programming language
programming language#English

(programming) Begins a comment that is only applicable in the current line in some programming languages.

(networking) Indicates root path in a computer network (usually followed by a node name or an IP address).

г//ж//з in друг-дру́жба-друзья́

(linguistics) Marks alternation of sounds.

(orthography) Typographic substitute for the lateral click ⟨ǁ⟩.

(Internet, Hong Kong) Denotes that the following paragraph is a quotation.

berdly if your friends were homestuck characters who would they be. //sorry autism wants me dead, berdlys my fav character and hs is my spin. you will never heard the end of it from me

2024 April 15, @XxKilla_KrisxX, Twitter:

(Internet slang) Introduces a comment or interpretation related to the preceding statement.

Wiktionary speedpaint // OC // Kawaii // TW: Gore

(Internet slang) In a title, separates related but distinct pieces of information.

blood //

Here's a drawing I made! It turned out a lot grimmer than I anticipated haha

(Internet slang) Follows a content warning.


(linguistics) Encloses morphophonemic transcription.


A flock of sparrows

Encloses supplemental information when the original text continues afterwards; similar to ( ).


`vert` `vert`

(linguistics) Encloses diaphonemic transcription.


`lt` `gt` `lt`/ `gt`

<sarcasm>I believe you, thousands wouldn't.'''

(see title)

2007 October 19, rwa2play, “(RSPoliticsW) <sarcasm> The economy's doing great!!! '”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet; in English), message-ID <1192824760.392102.297720@k35g2000prh.googlegroups.com>

(Internet slang) Used to explicitly indicate an attribute of given statement.


(programming) Encloses a multi-line comment in some programming, markup and query languages.


`lt` `gt`

having now watched it I just have one thing to say... <grin> So who's got the bollocks to do some cosplay with me then? ^_^

2002 January 14, Stuart Dawson, “Re: This made me look at YATA in a whole new light.. o_o”, in uk.media.animation.anime (Usenet; in English):

<SIGH> TAKE A LOOK AROUND THE MARKET SID. WHAT DO YOU SEE?

2010, Robin Etherington, The Diamond Egg of Wonders (Monkey Nuts; 1), Oxford, Oxon: David Fickling Books, published 2013, →ISBN, page 8:

(comics, Internet slang) Synonym of * * (“encloses an interpretation, describes an action as if it were actually happening”)

Narrator: For the first time in seven turns of the seasons he speaks the ugly, guttural language of the humans...
Cutter (elf): <Before you die, say if any more of you come this way!>
Aro (human): <We are all that you see!> <No one follows!>

(comics, science fiction) Encloses translated text, including from nonhuman speakers.

To: Jane Doe <janedoe@example.com>, Joe Bananas <bananas1989@example.com>

Buy stuff from Best Shop <http://bestshop.example.com>.

See, eg, the Agreement between the United Nations and the Government of the Republic of Benin concerning the status of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) in the territory of the Republic of Benin (8 February 2017) available at <https://treaties.un.org>; and the Exchange of letters constituting an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of the Republic of the Niger concerning the activities carried out in the Republic of the Niger by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) (24 January 2017) available at <https://treaties.un.org>.

2019, Stephen Mathias, “Treaty-Making at the United Nations: The View from the Secretariat”, in Simon Chesterman, David M. Malone, Santiago Villalpando, Alexandra Ivanovic, editors, The Oxford Handbook of United Nations Treaties (in English), Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part I (Evolution—UN Treaty-Making in Practice and in Theory), chapter section 7 (Other Treaty-Related Activities of the Secretariat), page 66:

(Internet) Encloses an e-mail address or web address.


Speaking of Illustrator -- you weren't, but I'm pretending -- the way I'm going about comic art is on the computer.

2001 February 7, pieceoftheuniverse, “Re: Help please?”, in rec.humor.oracle.d (Usenet; in English), message-ID <3a817466.2941062@spamkiller.sucknews.com>:

Alternative form of ( ) or — —. These are two sets of -- used to enclose parenthetical text, like two em dashes, especially when actual em dashes are not available.


From ! + 1, from the fact that usually the same key is used for both symbols. Shift + 1 = !. This indicates that the person released Shift at some point, thus beginning to type 1.

You'd all burn and go to hell!!!!!!!!!!!11111

1999 July 1, Simon Maguire, “Re: video about Nirvana”, in alt.music.nirvana (Usenet; in English), message-ID <7lghei$nnd$5@nclient5-gui.server.virgin.net>:

(humorous) Alternative form of !! (dramatization of the ! punctuation)


Symbolizes three stones which would hold a cooking pot over a flame.

The gbakurunen, a punctuation mark used in the N’Ko script to indicate the end of a major section of text; similar in function to an asterism: ⟨⁂⟩ or coronis: ⟨⸎⟩.


ok_hand: = 👌

(Internet) In some social networks and forums, generates an emoji.


🗦Gasp!🗧 Your plan is too crazy to work!

(used in comics) Encloses an interjection, for emphasis.


All celebrity voices are impersonated.....poorly.

1997, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", season 1, episode 1 of South Park [disclaimer before the start of the show]

Elongated form of …. (the ellipsis, which indicates a pause or an omission)


Prevalence of a sort of luxury in the lowest spheres of life---the pernicious use of strong liquors, and of stimulating, inflammatory, or indigestible food.---3. The pleasures of sensible creatures designed to be the instruments of their preservation.

1797, Martha Mears, The Pupil of Nature; or Candid Advice to the Fair Sex, on the Subject of Pregnancy; Childbirth; the Diseases Incident to Both; the Fatal Effects of Ignorance and Quackery; and the Most Approved Means of Promoting the Health, Strength, and Beauty of Their Offspring (in English), London: […] the Authoress, […]; […] Faulder, […]; and Murray and Highly, […], page 49:

“I should be very happy, aunt---but Brighton is almost by Beachey Head; and if I could get so far, I could not expect to be welcome in such a smart place as that---poor scrubby midshipman as I am.”

1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II (in English), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 155:

VOL. XXXIX---NO. 236

1880 October 5, The Memphis Daily Appeal, volume XXXIX, number 236 (in English), Memphis, Tenn., page 1:

The Orang-Outang---An Account of the Almost Human Inhabitants of Borneo.

1881 January 6, [William Temple] Hornaday, The Weekly Bulletin, volume IV, number 34 (whole 190) (in English), Sterling, Kan., column 5:

A product of interesting origin and interesting production methods is agar-agar---so widely used in the products of this industry.

1934 July, “Agar-Agar”, in The Drug and Cosmetic Industry, volume XXXV, number 1 (in English), Pittsfield, Mass.: Drug Markets, Inc., page 21:

FAST ANNOUNCEMENT SERVICE---summaries of selected r&d reports compiled and mailed by subject categories.

1967, “Report selection aids: Pinpointing R & D reports for industry”, in General Report on the Economics of the Peaceful Uses of Underground Nuclear Explosions (in English):


Visual rendering of Morse code for , (“comma”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for ? (“question mark”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for ! (“exclamation mark”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for " (“quotation mark”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for ; (“semicolon”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for ) (“right parenthesis”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for _ (“underscore”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for ' (“apostrophe”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for . (period; full stop).


Visual rendering of Morse code for / (“slash”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for ( (“left parenthesis”).


Visual rendering of Morse code for : (colon).


〔 〕 (English name tortoise shell bracket)


The double danda, a punctuation mark of many Indic scripts, signifying the end of a paragraph or verse of poetry.


(West African languages) A full stop, often the only punctuation mark used in a text, or the only one apart from the question mark.


(linguistics) Encloses orthographic transcription.

(papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses restored writing that was mistakenly omitted by the original scribe.


(papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses amended writing where the original scribe has written something else erroneously.

(papyrology, epigraphy) Encloses restored writing where text has been lost and the restoration is likely but not certain.

(linguistics, in Igor Mel’čuk’s works) Encloses phrasemes.


Used as a quotation mark in some languages.


Ia[go]. Hee’s married. Caſ[ſio]. To who? […] Ia[go]. Marry to. ---- Come Captaine, will you goe? Oth[ello]. Ha, with who?

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto) (in English), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 8:

Would I had never been!----O thou, the Ghoſt / Of my dead Husband!

1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XXII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume VI (in English), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 31, lines 616–617:

But arm’d in vain;----th’ inexorable hate / Of envious fortune call’d her to her fate, / Inſatiate in her rage; […]

1725, [Marco Girolamo] Vida, translated by Christoph[er] Pitt, Vida’s Art of Poetry (in English), London: […] Sam. Palmer, for A. Bettesworth, […], page 77:


Marks end of a passage, paragraph, or chapter


Syllable boundary marker. It is used in the transcription of Chinese proper names with ambiguous syllable boundaries.


Marks start of a book, chapter, passage, or first line


सिद्धम् सिद्धम्#Sanskrit

Text-initial invocation. It represents Sanskrit सिद्धम् (siddham, “accomplished”).


Originates online. Derived from …, likely by imitation of an initial misspelling, since the . and , keys are next to each other on most keyboards.

Indicates trailing off at the end of a sentence.

I can't wait to say the f word, this Saturday,,,

Used to separate clauses, phrases, or universally to end sentences.


punctuation mark
punctuation mark#English

A Tifinagh punctuation mark used to delimit phrases in sentences in some languages, but rarely used in modern orthographies.


A Tifinagh Unicode character used to join ligated letters in Tuareg, displaying as a series of underdots when ligation is not supported by a font.


Ethiopic full stop, used to indicate the end of a sentence.


You really thought that a graduation playlist would be safe from Miley's ~patriotic hit~? Think again!

2024 May 2, Nicole Pomarico, Kayleigh Roberts, Starr Bowenbank, “The Best Graduation Songs of All Time”, in Cosmopolitan:

(Internet slang) Encloses a word or phrase to indicate disdain, mockery, snarkiness, or sarcasm.

ok i finished drawing my ~trollsona~ NO YOU CAN'T SEE HIM

2010 December 5, magnai cbt enthusiast (@Leic1s), Twitter:

2011 July 27, “Re: Do You ~REALLY~ Want To Know What's In Store For The Rainbow Family This Fall??”, in alt.gathering.rainbow (Usenet):

9 months on anticistamines ✨🖤 trans joy is ~everything~

2021 February 27, @__jajaja___, Twitter:

Any Light Academia girl would have these ~sophisticated~ games at home.

2022 October 1, “The Light Academia pack”, in Cosmopolitan:

5. A National Geographic geode kit that'll make for a ~smashing~ gift. Now hand me those goggles, please!

2022 November 9, Melanie Aman, “35 Gifts To Give If You Want To Be Remembered As A Great Gift-Giver By Your Family”, in BuzzFeed, archived from the original on 2022-11-09:

Camila Cabello was ~just~ spotted kissing her ex Shawn Mendes at Coachella, and she seems to be focused on doing her own thing.

2023 May 10, Korin Miller, “Camila Cabello Rocked An Itty-Bitty String Bikini At Coachella, And Her 🔥 Abs Are Toned AF”, in Women's Health:

(Internet slang) Encloses a word or phrase to indicate quirkiness.

~heyyy~

(Internet slang, text messaging, dated) Encloses a word or phrase to indicate flirtatiousness.


Now with ínne fewe dayes was notyfied on to me þat þe lyf of our’ fader seynt augus⹝
tẏn[…]

1960, English Vernacular Hands from the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Centuries (in Middle English), page 21:

Now within a few days I was informed that the love of our father Saint Augustine […]

Alternative form of ‐ for a word-break at the end of a line


Used to create a hard-coded underline a.k.a. underscore.


(IPA Braille) the phonemic-transcription delimiter /.../ of the International Phonetic Alphabet


(IPA Braille) the opening phonetic-transcription delimiter [... of the International Phonetic Alphabet


(IPA Braille) the closing phonetic-transcription delimiter ...] of the International Phonetic Alphabet


` (English name backtick or backquote or backprime)

backtick (English name)
backquote (English name)
backprime (English name)

(dated, computing) Alternative form of ‘ (quotation mark)

The echo and sed commands appear within backprimes (`) that indicate command substitution: The result of executing the commands within the backprimes replaces the backprimes and everything between them.

1997, Mark G. Sobell, “The TC Shell”, in A Practical Guide to Linux, Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, →ISBN, page 440:

(computing) Used as an enclosing construct in some programming languages

(nonstandard, Internet) Alternative form of ' (apostrophe)

(formal) A grave accent or baria as a spacing character.


Ethiopic semicolon, used to indicate a pause between two main clauses, that is more pronounced than that indicated by a comma.


Ethiopic comma, used to indicate a pause between the parts of a sentence.


(Hong Kong, Internet) Encloses a quotation of paragraph length.


(lexicography) Used in some dictionaries when a hyphenated word breaks on the hyphen at the end of a line.


Doubling to iconically indicate greater fidelity.

(linguistics, epigraphy) May contrast with ⟨ ⟩ to distinguish ⟪original orthography⟫ from ⟨transliteration⟩, or the ⟪idiosyncratic spelling⟫ of a manuscript from the ⟨normalized orthography⟩ of the language.


(IPA) Encloses IPA symbols to indicate that they have their canonical values. E.g. ⟦e⟧ is specifically a close-mid vowel, and not for example a mid vowel as the broader notation [e] might cover.

(semantics) denotes the extension of a word, phrase or sentence.


Used to create a hard-coded double underline/underscore.


IV — four; I̅V̅ — four thousand; I̿V̿ — four million

(Roman numerals) Multiplies the value of a group of digits by one million.

(Greek numerals) In Byzantine Greek and in Coptic, multiplies the value of a digit by a thousand. E.g. β̿ (modern ͵β) '2,000'.


ⸯ

paerok, a scribal mark used to replace a jer, or to break up consonant clusters.


(medieval texts) paragraphus, marks the beginning of a section of text.


punctus elevatus
punctus elevatus#English

(medieval texts) punctus elevatus, a common punctuation for sentence-medial pauses.


(late medieval texts) A punctus exclamativus a.k.a. punctus admirativus, an exclamation mark.


(medieval texts) marks the end of a comma, a rhetorical unit.


(late medieval texts) A form of the virgula suspensiva (the solidus), marking a disjunction or pause in a text greater than that of the ordinary virgula suspensiva but less than that of the punctus elevatus.


(medieval Norse editorial marks) Used in pairs to mark ⸠deletions⸡ in the manuscript; (in reverse order) to mark spurious ⸡repetitions⸠.


punctus interrogativus
punctus interrogativus#English

punctus percontativus
punctus percontativus

(medieval texts) punctus interrogativus, a question mark, in late texts specifically marking questions that expect an answer, as opposed to the punctus percontativus ⟨⸮⟩ used to mark rhetorical questions.


“And if you, the doctors, want to remain free * * * you must be alert, aggressive citizens, ready to defend what America has given us,” he said.

1951 February, “1951 Objectives for Medicine”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 2 (overall work in English), Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 91:

(rare) Used to substitute parts of a quotation that are deliberately omitted.


(typography) Introduces items in a list.


Trí troisciud immurco tantum la Colum Cilli in ando .i. aidchi Notlacc Steill .i. post .xii. nataleis & ochtmad (i)mbairgine Coluim Cilli i suidiu & seilind & bochtan ais maith, [...]

c. 815-840, “The Monastery of Tallaght”, in Edward J. Gwynn, Walter J. Purton, transl., Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, volume 29, Royal Irish Academy, published 1911-1912, paragraph 68, pages 115-179:

However, Colum Cille recognized three fasts only in the year: the eve of Epiphany — that is, twelve days after Christmas, and the eighth part of Colum Cille’s loaf at that time, with a seland and a bochtan of good milk...

Hé férde tó Burch tó Sc̃e Petres mynstre and þǽr drohtnode .xii. geár

s.a. 1072, Peterborough Chronicle (in Old English):

He travelled to Bury, to the monastery of St Peter, and dwelled there for twelve years

And ſeke to this in the .xii. chapitre in the lettre D. […]

[1528?], Jherom Bruynswyke, translated by Laurence andrew, The Vertuose Boke of Distyllacyon of the Waters of All Maner of Herbes […] (in English), [London]:

[…] thoſe thynges, which ſhall be ſayd hereafter, in the .ix. the .x. yͤ .xiiii. and the .xviii. chapitres of this preſent dyccyon.

1535 July 27, [Marsilius of Padua], translated by Wyllyam Marshall, The Defence of Peace: […] (in English), [London]: […] Robert wyer / for wyllyam marshall, folio 65, recto:

The first duodecalogue, partely exciting partely directing a man in spirituall batail, explains how one must go about the strenuous acquisition of vertue (103) .. The second duodecalogue, "the .xii. wepenis of spiritual bataile" (109-13) gives practical help for the Christian pursuing the holy life

a. 1536, A Companion to Thomas More (in English), published 2009, page 107:

Shaxton. The .xiii. Article

1548, Robert Crowley, The confutation of the xiii articles [of] Nicolas Shaxton (in English):

And this volume thus finiſhed the laſt day of Aprill in this yeare of oure Lorde GOD .1557.

1557 April 30, Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], “To the Moste Hygh and Vertuous Princesse, Mary by the Grace of God, Quene of Englande, […]”, in Thomas More, edited by Wyllyam Rastell, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […] (in English), London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, →OCLC, signature .ii., verso:

a. 1560, Virgill, Thomas Phaër, transl., “The Ninth Booke of the Aeneidos of Uirgil”, in The Whole .xii. Bookes of the Æneidos of Virgill (in English), London: […] Wyllyam How, for Abraham Veale, published 1573:


(late medieval texts) The punctus elevatus, marking a disjunction or pause in a text greater than that of the virgula suspensiva (the solidus).


The words \ˈmeɪri\ (Mary), \ˈmɛri\ (merry) and \ˈmæri\ (marry) are all pronounced /ˈmɛri/ in General American, whereas \ˈspɑː\ (spa) and \ˈspɑːr\ (spar) are both pronounced /ˈspɑː/ in Received Pronunciation.

(linguistics) Encloses diaphonemic transcription.


(editorial siglum, New Testament) A mark for alternative readings: ⟨⸀⟩ is placed before a single word that is replaced by other words in some manuscripts.

editorial siglum; New Testament; editorial siglum; New Testament


(editorial siglum, New Testament) A mark for extended readings: ⟨⸆⟩ is placed at a point in the text where some manuscripts have longer wording.


(editorial siglum, New Testament) A transposition mark: ⟨⸈⟩ is placed before a word or verse that is transposed in some manuscripts.


(editorial siglum, New Testament) The closing omission delimiter: see ⟨⸋ ⸌⟩.

(editorial siglum, Nordicist) The opening insertion delimiter: see ⟨⸌ ⸍⟩.


(editorial sigla, New Testament) Delimiters for alternative readings: ⟨⸂ ⸃⟩ bracket a sequence that is replaced by other words in some manuscripts.

editorial sigla; New Testament; editorial sigla; New Testament


(editorial sigla, New Testament) Transposition delimiters: ⟨⸉ ⸊⟩ bracket a sequence that is preserved in a different order in some manuscripts.


(editorial sigla, New Testament) Omission delimiters: ⟨⸋ ⸌⟩ bracket a sequence that is omitted in some manuscripts.


In hrut⸌r⸍, the r has been inserted, and some texts read hrut.

(editorial siglum, Nordicist) Insertion delimiters: ⟨⸌ ⸍⟩ bracket a sequence that is omitted in some manuscripts.


(Nko) Paraphrase delimiters: ⟨⸜ ⸝⟩ bracket paraphrased text.


♪ Happy birthday to you. ♪

Encloses subtitled text that is sung or in a singsong intonation.


We can write la{t,d}er for the conflated pronunciation of ladder and latter in American English. This may instead be written ⫽laDer⫽, where ⫽D⫽ is the archiphoneme {t, d}, or with both conventions for {laDer}.

(linguistics) Encloses morphophonemic transcription.


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being in Fraktur typeface.

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠘⟩: ⡘ ⢘ ⣘


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being in script (handwriting-style) typeface.


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being in a defined font.


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being in roman typeface.

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠨⟩: ⡨ ⢨ ⣨


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being underlined.

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠸⟩: ⡸ ⢸ ⣸


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being in bold typeface.


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) marks the following text as being in italic typeface.


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) the closing square bracket, ⟨]⟩

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠴⟩: ⡴ ⢴ ⣴


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) the closing parenthesis, ⟨)⟩


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) the opening square bracket, ⟨[⟩

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠦⟩: ⡦ ⢦ ⣦


(Gardner–Salinas proposal) the opening parenthesis, ⟨(⟩

Braille eight-dot extensions from ⟨⠆⟩: ⡆ ⢆ ⣆