interpunct

English

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interpunct

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Latin interpunctus, from inter- (“between, mid-”) + punctus (“point”).

Noun

interpunct (plural interpuncts)

(typography) The punctuation mark ⟨·⟩.
- 1972, E. Otha Wingo, Latin punctuation in the classical age‎^[1], Mouton, page 32:
  As is to be expected in every good inscription of the period, the interpunct is used regularly and systematically throughout to divide words from one another. As is usual, the interpunct is frequently omitted between a monosyllabic preposition and the noun that it governs, thus presumably indicating that the preposition was treated as a proclitic. [...] I feel certain that the interpunct used within compound verbs on the Ancyran text does not differ in any way from the interpunct normally used between words ; [...].
- 2017, Richard Poulin, Design school type : a practical guide for students and designers‎^[2], Rockport Publishers, page 152:
  An interpunct is a typographic glyph consisting of a vertically centered dot and used to indicated syllabic separation of words. Also called interpoint, middle dot or raised dot.

Synonyms

middot, centered dot, middle dot, space dot, interpoint; decimal point (UK); come (obsolete); turned period (obsolete); turned point (obsolete)

Translations

punctuation mark — see also middle point,‎ midpoint

Catalan: punt volat (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 间隔号 (zh) (jiāngéhào)
Dutch: hoge punt, halfhoge punt m
Esperanto: meza punkto
French: point médian (fr) m, point en haut (fr) m
German: Mittelpunkt (de) m
Hungarian: középső pont
Japanese: 中黒 (ja) (なかぐろ, nakaguro)
Korean: 가운뎃점 (ko) (gaundetjeom)
Latin: interpūnctus m
Polish: kropka środkowa f
Portuguese: ponto mediano (pt) m
Spanish: interpunto m
Swedish: halvhög punkt c
Ukrainian: інтерпункт m (interpunkt)

Verb

interpunct (third-person singular simple present interpuncts, present participle interpuncting, simple past and past participle interpuncted)

(transitive) To place points between clauses, words or some letters.
- 2002, Robert Kool, Donald T. Ariel, ’Atiqot‎^[3], volume 43:
  The three brass jetons (Nos. 5-7) are all of the early anonymous ‘orb/rose’ types minted between 1550 and 1585. They all bear meaningless legends interpuncted with rosettes and dots, signifying the initials of the jeton-master who produced them.
- 2008 July 19, Deborah Ross, “Dystopian love STOR.E”, in The Spectator:
  Look, at its heart WALL·E is, I suppose, a love story, and it’s not as if the eco-message is insultingly hammered home as it was, say, in Happy Feet. Much of the film is wonderfully imagined, and there is something utterly winning about this tin can topped with binoculars. (I cried; twice). Kiddies will see it, I know, so obviously it can’t be too dystopian, although, come on, every meal as a milkshake? YIPP·E! The film goes so far, but ultimately doesn’t see it through. Is it worth seeing? Yes, probably. It’s just a shame that, at the end, it trips itself up with its own SENTIMENTALIT·E. (I don’t know about you, but I find that once I start interpuncting I just cannot stop.)