Virgule
noun
1.
a short oblique stroke (/) between two words indicating that whichever is appropriate may be chosen to complete the sense of the text in which they occur:
The defendant and his/her attorney must appear in court.
2.
a dividing line, as in dates, fractions, a run-in passage of poetry to show verse division, etc.:
3/21/27; “Sweetest love, I do not go/For weariness of thee.” (John Donne)
3.
a short oblique stroke (/) used in computing; a forward slash.
noun
1.
(printing) another name for solidus
noun
See forward slash
character
Rare, and ambiguous: slash or comma.
“Virgule” (or rather, Latin “virgula”, meaning “little rod” or, vividly enough, “little penis”) was the name of a punctuation character shaped like a small slash and used in the Latin writing system much like a modern comma — hence the ambiguity of this term in modern English.
Compare French “virgule” and Italian “virgola”, meaning “comma” (not “slash”); Italian “doppia virgola” and “virgoletta”, both meaning “double quote”.
(1997-04-08)
Read Also:
- Viribus
[toh-tis wee-ri-boo s; English toh-tis vir-uh-buh s] /ˈtoʊ tɪs ˈwi rɪˌbʊs; English ˈtoʊ tɪs ˈvɪr ə bəs/ adverb, Latin. 1. with all one’s might.
- Viricide
noun 1. virucide. viricide vi·ri·cide (vī’rĭ-sīd’) or vi·ru·cide (vī’rə-) n. An agent that inhibits or destroys viruses. vi’ri·cid’al (-sīd’l) adj.
- Virid
adjective 1. green or verdant: the virid woodlands of spring.
- Viridescent
adjective 1. slightly green; greenish. adjective 1. greenish or tending to become green
- Viridian
noun 1. a long-lasting, bluish-green pigment, consisting of a hydrated oxide of chromium. noun 1. a green pigment consisting of a hydrated form of chromic oxide