apostrophe

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See also: Apostrophe and apostrophé

English

WOTD – 13 February 2007

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

Alternative forms

Noun

apostrophe (plural apostrophes)

  2. (orthography) The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.
    • 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 30:
      Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation.
Usage notes

In English, the apostrophe is used to mark the possessive (e.g., “my friend’s wife”), and to show the omission of letters (e.g., “my friend’s angry”) or of numbers (e.g., "during the 1960s and ’70s").

Derived terms
Translations
See also

Punctuation

Etymology 2

From Latin apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “I turn”).

Noun

apostrophe (countable and uncountable, plural apostrophes)

  2. (rhetoric) A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.
    • 1835, L Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, , Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 28:
      Apostrophe a bold digression makes,
      Mov'd by some sudden thought the theme awakes.
    • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. , volume II, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC, page 139:
      The warm apostrophe of Riccardini to this little representative of his parents, whom he called "the son of his love, the child of his old age, the gift of his beloved niece, on the behalf of his angel-daughter," affected them all;...
Derived terms
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Translations

Anagrams

French

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”).

Noun

apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)

  1. (orthography) apostrophe
Descendants

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin apostropha, apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

Noun

apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)

  1. (rhetoric) apostrophe
Related terms

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

apostrophe

  1. inflection of apostropher:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

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