pilcrow

English

Pilcrows in various typefaces

Etymology

Probably an alteration of Middle English pylcrafte, modification of Late Latin paragraphus.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪl.kɹəʊ/
• (US) enPR: pĭl′-krō, IPA^(key): /ˈpɪl.kɹoʊ/
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Noun

pilcrow (plural pilcrows)

1. The symbol ¶.
   1. A symbol designating the beginning of a new paragraph.
      • 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 167:

        The pilcrow was a simple punctuation symbol used by medieval scribes to indicate the start and end of a paragraph.

   2. (typography) A symbol designating a paragraph break.

Synonyms

• paragraph character
• paragraph mark
• paragraph marker
• paragraph sign
• paragraph symbol

Derived terms

• silcrow

Translations

a paragraph mark

• Basque: paragrafo zeinu
• Danish: afsnitstegn
• Dutch: alineateken
• French: pied-de-mouche (fr) m
• Galician: antígrafo m
• German: Absatzzeichen (de) n
• Hungarian: bekezdésjel
• Italian: piede di mosca m
• Japanese: 段落記号 (だんらくきごう, danraku kigō)
• Korean: 단락 기호 (dallak giho)
• Middle English: paraf
• Norwegian: avsnittstegn m
• Portuguese: pé de mosca m
• Russian: пункт знак m (punkt znak)
• Spanish: signo de antígrafo m, calderón (es) m
• Swedish: alinea (sv)