~

See also: ˜, ⁓, and ـٓ

Translingual

Diacritical mark

1. (IPA) A modifier indicating nasalization.

Symbol

~

1. (mathematics, Internet, text messaging) approximately

   She brought ~10 shirts for a two-day trip.

2. In East-Asian languages, indicates a range of numbers

   Example, 3~10 = "3 to 10"; ~9 = "up to nine"; 50~ = "50 and greater."

3. (mathematics) "is equivalent to"; "twiddles"
4. "is of the same order of magnitude as"
5. (logic) negation

   ~p

6. (linguistics) alternating with
7. (Internet, text messaging) Indicating joy, elation, excitement, or a playful tone.

   Awesome~ I hope you enjoy your trip!

8. (computing) user's home directory in Unix-like operating systems
9. (in dictionaries) Replaces the headword in example sentences, to save space.

   black, adj: of the colour perceived in the absence of light. ~ eye: one that has been visibly bruised.

Usage notes

In English, this is called tilde. The symbol may be placed mid-line or superscript that depends on fonts, or use swung dash (⁓) that is always mid-line.

Synonyms

• (logical negations): ¬, !
• (replaces the headword in example sentences): ⁓

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Chinese

Alternative forms

• ～ (the fullwidth tilde)

Punctuation mark

1. Indicates the starting point of a range; from.
2. Indicating the lengthening of a pronunciation.

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Japanese

Alternative forms

• ～ (the fullwidth tilde)
• 〜 (the wave dash)

Punctuation mark

1. Indicates the starting point of a range; from.
2. Indicating the lengthening of a pronunciation.

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Korean

Alternative forms

• ~ (the halfwidth tilde)
• ～ (the fullwidth tilde)

Punctuation mark

1. Indicates the starting point of a range; from.
2. Indicating the lengthening of a pronunciation.

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Portuguese

Diacritical mark

1. (presently) A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called til (“tilde”) in Portuguese, and found on Ã/ã and Õ/õ.
   1. In the letter "a", forms "ã" with the sound /ɐ̃/ followed by a semivowel or word-finally, as in avelã and canção, or in words derived from those, as in maçãzeira.
   2. In the letter "o", forms "õ" with the sound /õ/ followed by a semivowel, as in canções and põem.
2. (obsolete) Additionally, the same diacritical mark has had other uses in the past.
   1. In the letter "u", forms "ũ" with the sound /ũ/ followed by a vowel, as in hũa.
   2. Abbreviation of "m" or "n" in the syllable coda, as in cõtãto (for contanto) and cõ (for com).
   3. In the letter "q", forms "q̃" as an abbreviation of que and derivatives, as in q̃ for que, porq̃ for porque and paraq̃ for para que.

Usage notes

The tilde can appear in nonstressed or stressed vowels alike:

• A tilde can occur in an unstressed syllable in the same word as the acute or circumflex accent, as in sótão, órgão and bênção.
• Multiple tildes can occur in augmentatives, as in aviãozão and leãozão.
• In words with the suffixes -zinho (forms diminutives) and -mente (forms adverbs from adjectives, like the English suffix -ly), the stressed syllable changes and thus normally accents would be dropped, as in pé, pezinho; pálido, palidamente. That does not happen with the tilde: irmã, irmãzinha; alemã, alemãmente.

References

• Cláudio Moreno (2009 May 19) “til não é acento”, in sualíngua‎^[1] (in Portuguese), retrieved 2015-07-08

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Spanish

Diacritical mark

1. A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called virgulilla (“tilde”) in Spanish, and found on Ñ/ñ.

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Vietnamese

Diacritical mark

1. A diacritical mark of the Latin script, called dấu ngã (“tumbling mark”) in Vietnamese, and found on Ã/ã, Ẵ/ẵ, Ẫ/ẫ, Ẽ/ẽ, Ễ/ễ, Ĩ/ĩ, Õ/õ, Ỗ/ỗ, Ỡ/ỡ, Ũ/ũ, Ữ/ữ and Ỹ/ỹ. Used to indicate mid-rising, glottalized tone.

Usage notes

In some dialects of Vietnamese, particularly Saigonese, the mid-rising, glottalized tone is conflated with the mid falling-rising, harsh tone represented by ̉. Therefore, speakers of Saigonese often use ̉ in words that are spelled with a tilde in standard written Vietnamese.

In Vietnamese handwriting and signmaking, the letter I/i retains its tittle.

In Vietnamese handwriting, when the tilde is combined with the circumflex, the tilde's left side may be omitted and its right side curled.