(

See also: :(

Translingual

Character	(
Unicode name	LEFT PARENTHESIS
Codepoint	U+0028
( ← Basic Latin → *

Punctuation mark

(

1. Begins supplemental information

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

2. (mathematics) Begins a mathematical phrase that has increased precedence in terms of operators

   2/(3+8)

3. Begins a parenthetical phrase

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

4. Begins denoting an alternative option for a preceding word.

   Go get the dog(s) - Here, s is a common shorthand for the plural dogs

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

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

Derived terms

• ﹙ (small form variant)

Synonyms

• (parenthetical phrase) —
• (mathematical precedence) {, [

See also

• to (Lojban)

Punctuation

apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ ) braces (publishing, music, programming) ( { } ) brackets (publishing, programming) ( [ ] ) colon ( : )

comma ( , ) dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― ) ellipsis ( … ) exclamation mark ( ! ) full stop (British) or period (North America) ( . ) guillemets (publishing) ( « » )

hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ ) interpunct (publishing, web design) ( · ) interrobang (rare) ( ‽ ) parentheses ( ( ) )

question mark ( ? ) quotation marks (formal, British) ( ‘ ’ ) ( “ ” ) quotation marks (informal, North America, computing) ( " ) ( ' )

semicolon ( ; ) slash ( / ) solidus (dated, mathematics) ( ⁄ ) space (   )