Asterism (typography)

For other uses, see Asterism.

In typography, an asterism, ⁂, is a typographic symbol consisting of three asterisks placed in a triangle, which is used for a variety of purposes. The name originates from the astronomical term for a group of stars.^[1]

⁂
Asterism (typography)
In Unicode	U+2042 ⁂ ASTERISM
Different from
Different from	U+0B83 ஃ TAMIL SIGN VISARGA U+2234 ∴ THEREFORE U+2235 ∵ BECAUSE

The asterism was originally used as a type of dinkus in typography, though increasingly rarely.^[2] It can also be used to mean "untitled" or author or title withheld – as seen, for example, in some editions of Album for the Young by composer Robert Schumann (№ 21, 26, and 30).^[3] In meteorology, an asterism in a station model indicates moderate snowfall.^[4][5]

Dinkus

Main article: Dinkus

Asterisms used as dinkuses in the James Joyce novel Ulysses, the "Wandering Rocks" chapter, from the 1922 edition.^[6] The 1961 edition used a hollow white star (☆), and the 1984 edition used a row of three asterisks.

A dinkus is a typographical device to divide text, such as at section breaks. Its purpose is to "indicate minor breaks in text",^[7] to call attention to a passage, or to separate sub-chapters in a book. An asterism used this way is thus a type of dinkus: nowadays this usage of the symbol is nearly obsolete.^[2] More commonly used dinkuses are three dots or three asterisks in a horizontal row.^[8][9] A small black and white drawing^{[10][full citation needed]} or a fleuron (❧)^[9] may be used for the same purpose. Otherwise, an extra space between paragraphs is used. A dinkus may be used in conjunction with the extra space to mark a smaller subdivision than a sub-chapter.

See also

• Dingbat
• Ellipsis (three dots in mid-sentence)
• Signature mark

References

1. From the Greek astēr (star) Alexander Humez, Nicholas D. Humez (2008). On the Dot: The Speck That Changed the World, p. 72 & 186n. ISBN 978-0-19-532499-0.
2. Radim Peško, Louis Lüthi (2007). Dot Dot Dot 13, p. 193. Stuart Bailey, Peter Bilak, eds. ISBN 978-90-77620-07-6.
3. Taruskin, Richard (2005). The Oxford history of western music, Volume 3, p. 311. ISBN 978-0-19-516979-9.
4. Ahrens, C. Donald (2011). Essentials of meteorology: an invitation to the atmosphere (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. p. 461. ISBN 9780840049339. OCLC 651905769.
5. "Station Model Information for Weather Observations". National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
6. Joyce, James (1922). Ulysses. London, Paris: Egoist Press, John Rodker. p. 240 – via Archive.org.
7. Hudson, Robert (2010). The Christian Writer's Manual of Style. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-310-86136-2.
8. Lundmark, Torbjorn (2002). Quirky Qwerty: the story of the keyboard @ your fingertips. University of New South Wales. p. 120. ISBN 9780868404363.
9. David Crystal (2016). Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation. London Profile Books. ISBN 9781781253519.
10. McAuley, James Phillip (1964). Quadrant. 8. H.R. Krygier: 33. {{cite journal}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)