&

See also: -&, &̄, and Appendix:Variations of "et"

& U+0026, & AMPERSAND ← % [U+0025] Basic Latin ' → [U+0027]

Character variations

🙵 U+1F675, 🙵 SWASH AMPERSAND ORNAMENT ← 🙴 [U+1F674] Ornamental Dingbats 🙶 → [U+1F676]

🙴 U+1F674, 🙴 HEAVY AMPERSAND ORNAMENT ← 🙳 [U+1F673] Ornamental Dingbats 🙵 → [U+1F675]

🙰 U+1F670, 🙰 SCRIPT LIGATURE ET ORNAMENT ← 🙯 [U+1F66F] Ornamental Dingbats 🙱 → [U+1F671]

🙱 U+1F671, 🙱 HEAVY SCRIPT LIGATURE ET ORNAMENT ← 🙰 [U+1F670] Ornamental Dingbats 🙲 → [U+1F672]

🙲 U+1F672, 🙲 LIGATURE OPEN ET ORNAMENT ← 🙱 [U+1F671] Ornamental Dingbats 🙳 → [U+1F673]

🙳 U+1F673, 🙳 HEAVY LIGATURE OPEN ET ORNAMENT ← 🙲 [U+1F672] Ornamental Dingbats 🙴 → [U+1F674]

＆ U+FF06, ＆ FULLWIDTH AMPERSAND ← ％ [U+FF05] Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms ＇ → [U+FF07]

﹠ U+FE60, ﹠ SMALL AMPERSAND ← ﹟ [U+FE5F] Small Form Variants ﹡ → [U+FE61]

Translingual

Ampersand evolution.

Alternative forms

There is a great deal of variation in this character; fonts often make it distinctive as an identifying feature of the font. Common variants include ⟨🙵⟩ and ⟨🙰⟩.

Apart from the CJK variants, additional Unicode characters are intended for backward compatibility with Wingdings fonts.

Glyph origin

A stylized form of Latin et (“and”). Romans used such symbols (ligatures) from at least the first century C.E., but the character may not have acquired its present form until the advent of calligraphy in the Middle Ages. Compare ⁊ and +, of same meaning and similar derivation.

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of English and

   Synonym: ⁊

Symbol

& (English symbol name ampersand)

1. (programming) Used in some programming languages for different purposes.
   1. Used to dereference memory address.
   2. Used to represent the binary operator "and".

      Synonyms: AND, &&, ∧

      1 & 0 = 0

2. (networking) In a URL, separates each field-value pair of a query string.

   https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Wiktionary:Word_of_the_day&action=view&useskin=monobook

3. (Internet slang, subculture) Used to represent multiplicity.

Derived terms

• (mathematics) ⅋
• & ;
• v&
• &c.

Gallery

• The roman-typeface ampersand at left is stylized, but the italic one at right reveals its origin in the Latin word et.
• An ampersand handwritten as an 'E' with a vertical stroke
• A handwritten ampersand with the vertical stroke merged into the ends of the 'E'

See also

• ϗ
• ΘΔ (“a therianthrope”)
• (Latin script):  Aa  Bb  Cc  Dd  Ee  Ff  Gg  Hh  Ii  Jj  Kk  Ll  Mm  Nn  Oo  Pp  Qq  Rr  Sſs  Tt  Uu  Vv  Ww  Xx  Yy  Zz
• (Variations of letter E):  Éé  Èè  Êê  Ḙḙ  Ěě  Ĕĕ  Ẽẽ  Ḛḛ  Ẻẻ  Ėė  Ëë  Ēē  Ȩȩ  Ęę  ᶒ  Ɇɇ  Ȅȅ  Ếế  Ềề  Ễễ  Ểể  Ḝḝ  Ḗḗ  Ḕḕ  Ȇȇ  Ẹẹ  Ệệ  ⱸ  ᴇ  Ｅｅ  Ææ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  &  Œœ  ᵫ
• (Letter combinations):  Ꜳꜳ  Ææ  ᴁᴭ  Ǽǽ  Ǣǣ  Ꜵꜵ  Åå  Ꜷꜷ  Ꜹꜹ  Ꜻꜻ  Ꜽꜽ  ct  ȸ  DZDzdz  DŽDždž  ᴂᵆ  ᴔ  &  ff  fi  ffi  fl  ffl  ℔  IJij  LJLjlj  Ỻỻ  Ŋŋ  NJNjnj  Œœ  ɶ  Ꝏꝏ  Ȣȣᴕ  ȹ  ẞß  ſtst  ᵫ  Ůů  Ww  Ꝡꝡ

English

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from Latin &

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. Abbreviation of and.
   • 2011, David Almond, The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, Candlewick Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 121:

     “Welcum to McCaufreys, Billy Dean” he says. “Make yorself at home & hav a pie.”

2. (dated) Abbreviation of Latin et.

Usage notes

• The ampersand is often used if the words to the left and right together form one inseparable unit, for example plug & play.

• Occurrences of & in proper names are considered part of the name itself, and are almost always reproduced even in contexts where ampersands are not normally used.

• In formal use, not all ands are replaceable with an ampersand. For example and linking two main clauses or appearing before the last item of a list are not written as &.

Derived terms

• & alii, & al.
• & cetera, &c.
• & Co.
• & hoc genus omne
• & iam, & i.
• & seq., & seqq.
• & uxor, & ux.

Translations

and

• Armenian: և (hy) (ew)
• Catalan: & (ca)
• French: & (fr)
• German: u. (de), & (de)
• Greek: ϗ (el)
• Irish: ⁊
• Italian: & (it)
• Malay: &
• Portuguese: & (pt)
• Spanish: & (es) (normally used on translated English names that contain this character, but rarely elsewhere)
• Swedish: & (sv), o̱
• Thai: & (th)
• Vietnamese: &

Catalan

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of i

Esperanto

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of kaj

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /e/

• Audio (France (Vosges)); “et commercial”:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of et

Italian

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of e or ed
2. (dated) abbreviation of et

Japanese

Particle

&(アンド) • (ando)  (siglum)

1. abbreviation of アンド

Latin

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of et
   • 1772, Finnur Jónsson, chapter 1, in Historia Ecclesiastica Islandiæ [The Ecclesiastical History of Iceland]‎^[1], volume 1, Copenhagen: Orphanotrophius Regii, section 1, page 1:

     Nam Schalholtum, ſedes epiſcopalis, in meridionali Islandia, jacet ſub gradu 64. & aliqvot min.

     [nam Schalholtum, sēdēs epīscopālis, in merīdiōnālī Īslandiā, jacet sub gradū 64. & aliquot mīn.]

     For Skálholt, the episcopal see in southern Iceland, lies at 64 degrees & a few minutes.

Derived terms

• &̄ (etiam)

Related terms

• -&

Portuguese

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of e

Spanish

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. (archaic except in English contexts) abbreviation of y or e

Swedish

Conjunction

& (siglum)

1. abbreviation of och

   Synonym: o̱

Derived terms

• &c. (“etc.”)