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semicolon

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: semi-colon

English

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WOTD – 10 September 2026
A semicolon.

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *sem-
Proto-Indo-European *sēmi
Latin sēmi-bor.
English semi-
Ancient Greek κῶλον (kôlon)bor.
Latin cōlon
English colon
English semicolon

    From semi- (“half”) + colon,[1] from the fact that the mark is a colon (“:”) with the lower half replaced by a comma (“,”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    semicolon (plural semicolons or (uncommon) semicola)

    2. (orthography) The punctuation mark ";", which is used to separate two sentences, the latter of which qualifies the former; to separate a series of related clauses or sentences; to separate items in a list where the items themselves include commas; etc.
      • a. 1638 (date written), Ben Jonson, “The English Grammar. […]. [Chap[ter] IX. Of the Distinction of Sentences.]”, in The Works of Beniamin Jonson, […] (Third Folio), London: […] Thomas Hodgkin, for H[enry] Herringman, E. Brewster, T. Bassett, R[ichard] Chiswell, M. Wotton, G. Conyers, published 1692, →OCLC, 2nd booke, page 690, column 2:
        A Semicolon is a diſtinction of an imperfect Sentence, vvherein vvith ſomevvhat a longer Breath, the Sentence follovving is included; and is noted thus (;).
      • 1771, George Fisher, “Of Stops, Marks, and Points, Used in Reading and Writing; with Their Places and Significations”, in The Instructor; or, Young Man’s Best Companion. Containing Spelling, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, in an Easier Way than Any yet Published. […], 23rd edition, Edinburgh: […] Gavin Alston, […], →OCLC, page 22:
        Stops, or pauſes, conſidered as intervals in reading, are no more than four; though there are other marks to be taken notice of, but to other purpoſes. The names of the four ſtops are a comma, ſemicolon, colon, and period or full-ſtop; and theſe do bear to one another a kind of progreſſional proportion of time; for the comma ſignifies a ſtop of leiſurely telling one, the ſemicolon tvvo, the colon three, and the period four.—They are made or marked thus; […] Semicolon (;) a point over the comma.
      • 1842, F[rancis] Francillon, “Section the Third”, in An Essay on Punctuation with Incidental Remarks on Composition, London: Whittaker and Co., […], →OCLC, pages 25 and 28:
        [page 25] The semi-colon appears in two forms: the first is this; if one member contains a word or words, which lead the reader to expect another member, and another member, having a word or words of reference to the former does immediately follow, the latter member is a semi-colon. The second form is, when one member is followed by another, and the latter means nothing or effects nothing, without calling in aid the preceding member, then the latter member is a semi-colon. […] [page 28] Periods, colons, and semi-colons, having been debated at great length, what is a colon or semi-colon will be summed up in a general description:—a colon or semi-colon is the more which cometh after, used only to illustrate what goeth immediately before; the more which cometh after and that which goeth before forming a period.
      • 1984, P[eter] Kyle McCarter, Jr., “XXXVII. A Psalm of David (22:1–51) [Textual Notes]”, in II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes and Commentary (The Anchor Bible; 9), Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →ISBN, verse 26, page 458:
        Thus, in MT [the Masoretic Text] we read, "With the loyal you are loyal, / with the faultless warrior (gibbôr tammîm) you are faultless." LXX [the Septuagint] preserves the primitive reading, except that the equivalent of MT's second semicolon has been inserted recensionally between the first and second semicola.
      • 2010 April 9, Andreas Leitgeb, “Problem with ; character with eval command”, in comp.lang.tcl‎[1] (Usenet):
        I strongly discourage this third one, as you may easily forget to correctly escape further semicola or specific other meta-characters added later[ ]on during maintenance.
      • 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags: The Stories behind the Symbols on Our Keyboards, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Bodleian Library, →ISBN, page 28:
        The use of the semicolon has remained contentious and subject to fashion.

    Alternative forms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    See also

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    Punctuation

    • ; (“the Greek question mark”)

    References

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    1. ^ “semicolon, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2026; “semicolon, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

    Further reading

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    Anagrams

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