·

See also: ◌̇, ‧ [U+2027 HYPHENATION POINT], ∙ [U+2219 BULLET OPERATOR], ⋅ [U+22C5 DOT OPERATOR], • [U+2022 BULLET], ꞏ [U+A78F LATIN LETTER SINOLOGICAL DOT], ・ [U+30FB KATAKANA MIDDLE DOT], ･ [U+FF65 HALFWIDTH KATAKANA MIDDLE DOT], and ⸳ [U+2E33 RAISED DOT]

· U+00B7, · MIDDLE DOT ← ¶ [U+00B6] Latin-1 Supplement ¸ → [U+00B8]

⋅ U+22C5, ⋅ DOT OPERATOR ← ⋄ [U+22C4] Mathematical Operators ⋆ → [U+22C6]

· U+0387, · GREEK ANO TELEIA ← Ά [U+0386] Greek and Coptic Έ → [U+0388]

Translingual

Glyph origin

Use as a multiplication or product operator is usually attributed to German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.

Symbol

·

1. (mathematics) The product operator.

   Synonyms: ×, *

   Antonyms: ÷, /

   7 · 8 = 56

2. (in a few countries, such as the UK) A decimal point.

   3·14, £1,234·99

3. (mathematics, vectors) The dot product operator.

   (1,2,5) · (3,4,−1) = 6

4. (mathematics) Indicates what elements can vary.

   If we have f(x,y) we can analyze the properties of f(·,y) which is a function of x found by fixing a particular y.

5. (Gregg shorthand) the letter a
6. (chemistry) Indicates addition compounds.

   BF₃·NH₃

7. See ・ for the middle dot used in Japanese katakana.
8. See ‧ for the hyphenation point.

Usage notes

• (decimal point): Many Britons employ the American decimal point ⟨.⟩ owing to a general lack of support for the middot character on computers. It remains common in writing done by hand.
• (Gregg shorthand, letter a): · (“dot”) is the shorthand form of a in Centennial, Series 90, DJS, Simplified, Anniversary, and Pre-Anniversary shorthand.
• (addition compound): The IUPAC Recommendations for Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry state: “Centre dots in formulae of (formal) addition compounds, including hydrates, adducts, clathrates, double salts and double oxides, separate the individual constituents. The dot is written in the centre of the line to distinguish it from a full stop (period).”

Synonyms

• (decimal point): ., ,

See also

Punctuation

• 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 ( ] [ )

Ancient Greek

Punctuation mark

·

1. The raised point, used like a semicolon.

See also

• (Greek-script letters) Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω
• (non-Classical letters) Ϝ ϝ, Ͷ ͷ, Ͱ ͱ, Ϻ ϻ, Ϙ ϙ, Ͳ ͳ
• (punctuation) · ;
• (diacritics) ᾿ ῾ ◌́ ◌̀ ῀ ¨

Catalan

Diacritical mark

·

1. middot, middle dot (a diacritical mark of the Latin script, called punt volat (“flown dot”) in Catalan, and found in the combination l·l to distinguish it from the digraph ll)

Usage notes

• In text messages or emails sometimes replaced with a full stop, ⟨.⟩.

Chinese

Punctuation mark

·

1. Separates first and last names in personal names transcribed into Chinese characters.

   巴拉克·奧巴馬／巴拉克·奥巴马  ―  Bālākè Àobāmǎ  ―  Barack Obama

2. Separates the title of a literary work or collection from the title of a section.

   《論語·子張》 [MSC, trad.]
   《论语·子张》 [MSC, simp.]

   “Lúnyǔ Zǐzhāng” [Pinyin]

   Analects, "Zizhang"

   《青少年文庫·傲慢與偏見》 [MSC, trad.]
   《青少年文库·傲慢与偏见》 [MSC, simp.]

   “Qīngshàonián Wénkù Àomàn yǔ Piānjiàn” [Pinyin]

   Teenage Book Collection: Pride and Prejudice

3. Separates the name of a fixed melody or format from the title of a poem or song.

   《水調歌頭·明月幾時有》 [MSC, trad.]
   《水调歌头·明月几时有》 [MSC, simp.]

   “Shuǐdiào Gētóu Míngyuè Jǐshí Yǒu” [Pinyin]

   "Mid-Autumn Festival Night" to the tune of "Shuidiao Getou"

4. Separates items in a list in titles.

   《天·地·人》  ―  “Tiān Dì Rén”  ―  Heaven, Earth, Man

5. Separates the month from the day in events, commemorations, etc. named after dates, only used after January (一 (yī)), November (一一 (yīyī)) and December (一二 (yī'èr)) when hanzi are used.

   一·二八事變／一·二八事变  ―  yī-èrbā shìbiàn  ―  January 28 Incident

   9·11襲擊事件／9·11袭击事件  ―  9-11 xíjī shìjiàn  ―  9/11 attacks

   九一八事變／九一八事变  ―  jiǔ-yībā shìbiàn  ―  Mukden Incident (lit. September 18 Incident)

Usage notes

• Rarely used in general. Is used similarly to the Japanese symbol ・.

French

Punctuation mark

·

1. (neologism, often proscribed) Used in certain forms of gender-neutral writing either before or around the feminine suffix, to avoid both the use of the masculine as the default form and the verbosity of writing out both the masculine and feminine forms.

   étudiant·es ― étudiantes et étudiants ― female students and male students

   étudiant·e·s ― étudiantes et étudiants ― female students and male students

Usage notes

• Another way to write such forms in gender-neutral writing is to give both the masculine and feminine forms connected by et, the form that goes first being determined by alphabetical order.
• French-language authorities, such as the Académie française, usually strongly proscribe the practice.

Garo

Letter

·

1. the raka

Greek

Punctuation mark

·

1. (grammar) raised point (άνω τελεία (áno teleía)) or Greek semicolon ( ; ))

Usage notes

• · can be uniquely represented by the Unicode character U+0387 GREEK ANO TELEIA.
• In many places, including on Wiktionary, U+0387 is automatically converted to · (U+00B7 MIDDLE DOT). This is because U+0387 is converted to U+00B7 by all Unicode normalizations.
• In some fonts, · (U+0387) is positioned higher than · (U+00B7), similarly to the top point of a colon (:) or semicolon (;).

See also

• Appendix:Greek Punctuation

Latin

Punctuation mark

·

1. Used to indicate a word boundary.

   Synonyms: 🙑, ⸙

   • c. 100 CE Roman inscription (image):

     C[aius]·AVRELIVS / PARTꟵENIVS / ÓRNÁMENTꟾS·DEC[urionalibus] / HONÓRÁTVS·COL[oniae]·AVG[ustae] / NEMAVSꟾ·ꟾIIIIꟾVIR·AVG[ustalis] / COL[onia]·CÓPIA·CLAVD[ia]·AVG[usta]·LVGVD[uni] / ITEM·NÁRBÓNE·MÁRTIO / ET·FIR[ma]·IVL[ia]·SECVND[anorum] ARAVSIÓNE / ET·FORO·IVLIꟾ·PÁCÁTO / VBꟾQVE·GRÁTVITꟾS·HONÓRIBVS