virgule

See also: virgulé

English

WOTD – 18 January 2009

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French virgule, from Latin virgula (“twig; scratch comma”), from virga (“rod, branch”) + -ulus (“forming diminutives”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvəː.ɡjuːl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈvɝ.ɡjul/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

virgule (plural virgules)

1. (typography, obsolete or historical) A medieval punctuation mark similar to the slash ⟨/⟩ or pipe ⟨|⟩ and used as a scratch comma and caesura mark.
   • 1990, John McDermott, Punctuation for Now, page 20:

     Other Chaucerian manuscripts had the virgule (or virgil or oblique: /) at the middle of lines.

2. (typography, dated) A slash, ⟨/⟩ or ⟨／⟩, particularly (literature) in its use to mark line breaks within quotes.
3. (typography, dated) A pipe, ⟨|⟩, particularly (poetry) in its use to mark metrical feet.

Synonyms

• (all): virgula (rare), virgil (UK, obsolete)
• (scratch comma): See comma
• (caesura mark): See caesura
• (oblique line): See slash
• (vertical line): See pipe

Related terms

• virgula, virgil

Translations

typographic character

• Czech: lomítko (cs) n
• Finnish: vinoviiva (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: barra oblicua f

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Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virgula, diminutive of virga (“rod, branch”).

Noun

virgule f

1. divining rod

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French

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin virgula, diminutive of virga (“rod, branch”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viʁ.ɡyl/

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Homophones: virgules, virgulent

Noun

virgule f (plural virgules)

1. comma (punctuation mark)
2. (mathematics) decimal point (see usage notes)

   En Europe continentale, la virgule permet de noter la partie décimale; pi vaut environ 3,1415. — In continental Europe, the comma is used to denote the decimal part; pi is about 3.1415.

Usage notes

• In France, unlike in English-speaking countries, a comma is used to separate the whole and decimal parts of a decimal, while a space (gap) is used to mark off thousands. So "100,000.9" ("one-hundred thousand point 9") is written in French as "100 000,9".
• In mathematics, the translation is "decimal point", but "comma" can be a more appropriate translation. For example, il y a trois décimales après la virgule translates as there are three decimal places after the decimal point, but En France, on sépare la partie entière et la partie décimale avec une virgule is better translated as In France, you separate the whole and decimal parts with a comma rather than ... with a decimal point, as the former explains which symbol is used and the latter is misleading.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• à la virgule près
• point-virgule

• virgule fixe
• virgule flottante

Etymology 2

Verb

virgule

1. first-person singular present indicative of virguler

Etymology 3

Verb

virgule

1. third-person singular present indicative of virguler

Etymology 4

Verb

virgule

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of virguler

Etymology 5

Verb

virgule

1. third-person singular present subjunctive of virguler

Etymology 6

Verb

virgule

1. second-person singular imperative of virguler

Further reading

• “virgule”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Norman

Alternative forms

• virdgule

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin virgula, diminutive of virga (“rod, branch”).

Noun

virgule f (plural virgules)

1. (Jersey) comma

Derived terms

• point virgule (“semicolon”)

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Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvir.ɡu.le]

Noun

virgule f pl

1. plural of virgulă