asterisk

See also: Asterix

English

Alternative forms

• asterisc

Etymology

From Late Latin asteriscus, from Ancient Greek ἀστερίσκος (asterískos, “a little star, asterisk, used in manuscripts to mark passages”), diminutive of ἀστήρ (astḗr, “a star”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈæstəɹɪsk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

asterisk (plural asterisks)

1. Symbol (*).
2. (sports, US) A blemish in an otherwise outstanding achievement.

   They came into the tournament highly ranked, but with a little bit of an asterisk as their last two wins had been unconvincing.

3. (biology) Alternate of Asteriscus.

Translations

symbol used to highlight words or sentences

• Armenian: աստղանիշ (hy) (astłaniš)
• Asturian: asteriscu m
• Basque: istartxo
• Belarusian: зо́рачка f (zóračka)
• Bulgarian: зве́здичка f (zvézdička)
• Catalan: asterisc (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 星號 (zh), 星号 (zh) (xīnghào)

• Czech: hvězdička (cs) f
• Danish: asterisk, stjerne (da)
• Dutch: asterisk (nl) f, sterretje (nl) n
• Esperanto: steleto, asterisko
• Faroese: asteriksur m
• Finnish: asteriski (fi), tähti (fi), tähti-merkki
• French: astérisque (fr) m
• Georgian: ვარსკვლავი (varsḳvlavi)
• German: Sternchen (de) n, Asterisk (de) m
• Greek: αστερίσκος (el) m (asterískos)

  Ancient: ἀστερίσκος m (asterískos)

• Hebrew: כּוֹכָבִית‎‎ f (kokhavít)
• Icelandic: stjörnumerki (is) n
• Ido: steleto (io), asterisko (io)
• Indonesian: tanda bintang, bintang (id), asterik
• Interlingua: asterisco
• Irish: réalta (ga) f

• Italian: asterisco (it) m
• Japanese: アスタリスク (ja) (asutarisuku), 星印 (ほしじるし, hoshi jirushi), 星号 (せいごう, seigō), スター (sutā)
• Korean: 별표 (ko) (byeolpyo), 애스터리스크 (aeseuteoriseukeu)
• Macedonian: ѕвездичка f (dzvezdička)
• Malay: tanda bintang
• Maltese: asteriks
• Norman: astérisque m, êtaile f
• Norwegian: asterisk (no)
• Polish: gwiazdka (pl) f
• Portuguese: asterisco (pt) m
• Romanian: asterisc (ro) n, steluță (ro) f
• Russian: звёздочка (ru) f (zvjózdočka), астери́ск (ru) m (asterísk)
• Scottish Gaelic: reul f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: звездица f, астериск m

  Roman: zvezdica (sh) f, asterisk (sh) m

• Slovak: hviezdička f
• Slovene: zvezdica f
• Spanish: asterisco (es) m
• Swedish: asterisk (sv) c
• Tagalog: talantanda
• Thai: ดอกจัน (th) (dɔ̀ɔk-jan)
• Ukrainian: зі́рочка f (zíročka)
• Volapük: stelül (vo)
• Welsh: seren (cy) f

See also

Typography

• ampersand ( & )
• asterisk ( * ) and asterism ( ⁂ )
• at sign ( @ )
• backslash ( \ )

• bullet ( •)
• dagger ( † ‡ )
• degrees ( ° )
• number sign ( # )

• prime ( ′ )
• tilde ( ~ )
• underscore ( _ )
• vertical bar/pipe ( | )

Verb

asterisk (third-person singular simple present asterisks, present participle asterisking, simple past and past participle asterisked)

1. To mark with an asterisk symbol (*)

Related terms

• aster
• asterism
• asteroid

Further reading

• asterisk in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• asterisk in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• sarkiest, skaiters

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Danish

Noun

asterisk c (singular definite asterisken, plural indefinite asterisker)

1. asterisk

Inflection

Declension of asterisk

common gender	Singular		Plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	asterisk	asterisken	asterisker	asteriskerne
genitive	asterisks	asteriskens	asteriskers	asteriskernes

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Swedish

Noun

asterisk c

1. asterisk

Declension

Declension of asterisk
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	asterisk	asterisken	asterisker	asteriskerna
Genitive	asterisks	asteriskens	asteriskers	asteriskernas