Phrase guide

punctuation mark

noun · 2 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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various symbols used in writing and printing to indicate pauses, divisions, etc., and to aid the reader in understanding what is written.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the marks used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: punctuation

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mark

Narrower terms: ampersand, apostrophe, brace, bracket, square bracket, angle bracket, colon, comma, exclamation mark, exclamation point, hyphen, dash, parenthesis, period, point, full stop, stop, full point, question mark, interrogation point, quotation mark, quote, inverted comma, semicolon, solidus, slash, virgule, diagonal, stroke, separatrix, swung dash

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

64 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Amharic: ሰረዝ (säräz) — symbol used in writing
  • Arabic: عَلَامَة تَرْقِيم (ʕalāmat tarqīm) — symbol used in writing
  • Armenian: կետադրական նշան (ketadrakan nšan) — symbol used in writing
  • Azerbaijani: durğu işarəsi — symbol used in writing
  • Bashkir: тыныш билдәһе (tınış bildəhe) — symbol used in writing
  • Belarusian: знак прыпы́нку (znak prypýnku) — symbol used in writing
  • Bulgarian: препина́телен знак (prepinátelen znak) — symbol used in writing
  • Catalan: signe de puntuació — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese Cantonese: 標點符號 /标点符号 — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese Cantonese: 標點 /标点 (biu1 dim2) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese Cantonese: 句讀 /句读 (geoi3 dau6) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese: 標點符號 /标点符号 (piau-tiám hû-hō, phiau-tiám hû-hō) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese: 標點 /标点 (zh-min-nan) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese: 句讀 /句读 (zh-min-nan) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 標點符號 /标点符号 (biāodiǎn fúhào) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 標點 /标点 (biāodiǎn) — symbol used in writing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 句讀 /句读 (jùdòu) — symbol used in writing
  • Crimean Tatar: toqtav işareti — symbol used in writing
  • Czech: interpunkční znaménko — symbol used in writing
  • Danish: tegnsætningstegn — symbol used in writing
  • Dutch: leesteken — symbol used in writing
  • Estonian: kirjavahemärk — symbol used in writing
  • Finnish: välimerkki — symbol used in writing
  • French: signe de ponctuation — symbol used in writing
  • Galician: signo de puntuación — symbol used in writing
  • German: Satzzeichen — symbol used in writing
  • Greek: σημείο στίξης (simeío stíxis) — symbol used in writing
  • Greek: σημείο στίξεως (simeío stíxeos) — symbol used in writing
  • Hungarian: írásjel — symbol used in writing
  • Italian: segno d'interpunzione — symbol used in writing
  • Italian: segno di interpunzione — symbol used in writing
  • Italian: segno di punteggiatura — symbol used in writing
  • Japanese: 句読点 (kutōten) — symbol used in writing
  • Kazakh: тыныс белгісі (tynys belgısı) — symbol used in writing
  • Korean: 구두점 (gudujeom) — symbol used in writing
  • Latvian: pieturzīme — symbol used in writing
  • Macedonian: интерпункциски знак (interpunkciski znak) — symbol used in writing
  • Macedonian: знак за интерпункција (znak za interpunkcija) — symbol used in writing
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skilletegn — symbol used in writing
  • Persian: نشانهٔ سجاوندی (nešâne-ye sajâvandi) — symbol used in writing
  • Polish: znak interpunkcyjny — symbol used in writing
  • Polish: znak przestankowy — symbol used in writing
  • Portuguese: sinal de pontuação — symbol used in writing
  • Romanian: semn de punctuație — symbol used in writing
  • Russian: знак препина́ния (znak prepinánija) — symbol used in writing
  • Serbo-Croatian: интерпункцијски знак — symbol used in writing
  • Serbo-Croatian: interpunkcijski znak — symbol used in writing
  • Slovak: interpunkčné znamienko — symbol used in writing
  • Slovene: ločilo — symbol used in writing
  • Spanish: signo de puntuación — symbol used in writing
  • Spanish: signo puntuante — symbol used in writing
  • Swahili: alama ya uakifishaji — symbol used in writing
  • Swedish: interpunktionstecken — symbol used in writing
  • Swedish: skiljetecken — symbol used in writing
  • Tagalog: bantas — symbol used in writing
  • Tajik: аломати ист (alomat-i ist) — symbol used in writing
  • Tamil: நிறுத்தற்குறி (niṟuttaṟkuṟi) — symbol used in writing
  • Thai: เครื่องหมายวรรคตอน (krʉ̂ʉang-mǎai-wák-dtɔɔn) — symbol used in writing
  • Turkish: noktalama işareti — symbol used in writing
  • Ukrainian: розділо́вий знак (rozdilóvyj znak) — symbol used in writing
  • Vietnamese: dấu chấm câu — symbol used in writing
  • Vietnamese: dấu chấm — symbol used in writing
  • Welsh: atalnod — symbol used in writing
  • Welsh: marc atalnodi — symbol used in writing