apostrophe
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Apostrophe and apostrophé
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - (US) IPA(key): /əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
Etymology 1
From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).
Alternative forms
- apostrophë, apostrophy
Noun
apostrophe (plural apostrophes)
- (orthography) The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.
- 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 30:
- Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation.
Usage notes
- In English, the apostrophe is used to mark the possessive (e.g., “my friend’s wife”), and to show the omission of letters (e.g., “my friend’s angry”) or of numbers (e.g., "during the 1960s and ’70s").
Derived terms
Translations
the character ’
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See also
apostrophe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
- curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
- square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
- colon ( : )
- comma ( , )
- dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
- ellipsis ( … )
- exclamation mark ( ! )
- fraction slash ( ⁄ )
- guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
- hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
- interpunct ( · )
- interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
- brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
- full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
- question mark ( ? )
- quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
- quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
- semicolon ( ; )
- slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
- space ( ] [ )
Etymology 2
From Latin apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “I turn”).
Noun
apostrophe (countable and uncountable, plural apostrophes)
- (rhetoric) A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.
- 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 139:
- The warm apostrophe of Riccardini to this little representative of his parents, whom he called "the son of his love, the child of his old age, the gift of his beloved niece, on the behalf of his angel-daughter," affected them all;...
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
sudden piece of dialogue
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Anagrams
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.pɔs.tʁɔf/
- Homophones: apostrophent, apostrophes
Audio: (file)
Etymology 1
From Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”).
Noun
apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)
Descendants
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Latin apostropha, apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).
Noun
apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)
Related terms
Etymology 3
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
apostrophe
- inflection of apostropher:
Further reading
- “apostrophe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
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