/


 * See also: / / for the use of / to enclose other characters.
 * See also: \.

Etymology
The various uses of the present symbol derive from several sources. The medieval virgule (🇨🇬) was an oblique or vertical line that served as a comma, period, and caesura mark and is still used in literary contexts for the slash marking line breaks. (This mark separately developed as the comma ⟨,⟩ and caesura mark ⟨‖⟩ and some senses of the vertical bar ⟨⟩.) The shilling mark (🇨🇬) was variously written s. or as the long s ſ. This eventually developed into a single unpunctuated slash; its use to separate shillings from pence was sometimes generalized to any currency division. Most mathematical senses derived from the earlier horizontal fraction bar (as in 1 2 , usually attributed to Arabic mathematician ), rewritten with a slash by the 18th century to permit fractions to be written on a single line. As a separator and conjunction, it represents an oblique form of the dash ⟨–⟩ or hyphen ⟨-⟩. Its use to mark supposed actions derives from command formatting in online chat forums, while its use to comment on preceding text derives from its use in some programming languages to form closing tags. Its present British name derives from its use in telegraphy; its present American name  gained wide currency from its use in computing.

Punctuation mark

 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * : per.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * 1)  A medieval and early modern form of the comma ⟨,⟩.
 * 2)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 3) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.
 * 1)  A medieval form of the period ⟨⟩.
 * 2) See / / for uses of the / to enclose other characters, as in.

Usage notes

 * The mark was originally known as the or  in its medieval use as a form of period or comma. It is now defined by Unicode and ISO as the, a late-19th-century British term for the shilling mark. (Some typographers mistaken label this mark as the  and distinguish the  as the fraction slash ⟨⁄⟩, but neither historical nor present official use supports such a distinction.) The mark is now generally known by the American term  or , although still frequently known as a  in British English. For translations and less common English names, see.
 * In most uses such as to indicate date separations and line breaks, the mark is not mentioned when the text is read aloud. In some cases, it is replaced by a term, such as “even” for currency or “out of” for totals.

Derived terms

 * used to mark broad phonemic transcriptions
 * used to italicize text in the absence of italic formatting

Conjunction

 * 1)  inclusive or
 * He's an actor / model.
 * 1)  exclusive or
 * I think she / he writes very well.

Symbol

 * 1)  A single-line division sign, used with full-size numerals. See also.
 * 2)  A single-line fraction divider, used with full-size numerals. See also.
 * 3)  The currency sign for British, Irish, Kenyan, etc. shillings.
 * 4)  typographic substitute for the dental click ⟨ǀ⟩.

Synonyms

 * , horizontal fraction bar
 * , horizontal fraction bar

English

 * 1)  The sound sequence /rd/, /rt/, or /rk/ (whether spelled ⟨rk⟩ or ⟨rc⟩).
 * 2)  The suffix or sequence.