Standard Lemma guide

guillemet

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌɡiˈmeɪ/
  • /ˌɡi.(j)əˈmeɪ/
  • /ˈɡɪl.əˌmɛt/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Either of the punctuation marks « or » (or ‹ or ›), used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language, such as “ and ”.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From French guillemet, diminutive form of the name Guillaume (“William”), named after French typecutter Guillaume Le Bé (1525–1598) who supposedly invented the marks.

Across languages

Translations

36 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: عَلَامَات تَنْصِيص (ʕalāmāt tanṣīṣ) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Arabic: عَلَامَات اِقْتِبَاس (ʕalāmāt iqtibās) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Armenian: չակերտ (čʻakert) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Chinese Mandarin: 書名號 /书名号 (shūmínghào) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Chinese Mandarin: 《 and 》 — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Chinese Mandarin: 〈 and 〉 — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Chinese Mandarin: 尖角引號 /尖角引号 (jiānjiǎo yǐnhào) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Finnish: kulmalainausmerkki — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • French: guillemet — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • German: Guillemet — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • German: Möwchen — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Greek: εισαγωγικά (eisagogiká) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Hungarian: lúdláb — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Hungarian: lúdlábidézőjel — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Hungarian: csúcsos idézőjel — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Hungarian: kúpos idézőjel — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Italian: citazioni d'angolo — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Italian: virgolette — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Italian: virgolettato — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Italian: segno diacritico — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Japanese: ギュメ (gyume) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Japanese: 《 and 》 — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Japanese: 〈 and 〉 — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sjevron — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sjevron — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Iranian Persian: گِیومِه (giyume) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Polish: cudzysłów ostrokątny — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Portuguese: aspas angulares — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Romanian: ghilimele — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Romanian: semnul citării — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Russian: ёлочка (jóločka) — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Spanish: comillas latinas — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Spanish: comillas españolas — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Spanish: comillas angulares — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Spanish: comillas bajas — either of the punctuation marks « or »
  • Ottoman Turkish: طرناق (tırnaq) — either of the punctuation marks « or »