Ditto mark
Template:Short description Template:Infobox symbol The ditto mark is a shorthand sign, used mostly in hand-written text, indicating that the words or figures above it are to be repeated.[1][2]
The mark is made using "a pair of apostrophes";[1] "a pair of marks Template:Char used underneath a word";[3] the symbol Template:Char (quotation mark);[2][4] or the symbol Template:Char (right double quotation mark).[5] The abbreviation "do." was a common alternative notation.
In the following example, the second line reads "Blue pens, box of twenty".
Black pens, box of twenty ... $2.10 Blue " " " " ... $2.35
History
Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the Neo-Assyrian period (934–608 BCE) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text.[6]
The word ditto comes from the Tuscan language,[7] where it is the past participle of the verb Script error: No such module "Lang". (to say), with the meaning of "said", as in the locution "the said story". The first recorded use of ditto with this meaning in English occurs in 1625.[7]
In English, the abbreviation "do.", usually italicised, has sometimes been used instead of ditto marks - see example below, and also in a table in a U.S. Patent.[8]
Other languages
Other languages may use equivalent symbols. For example, in Norwegian and Swedish handwriting, a version using horizontal lines to indicate the span of the cell in a table where an entry repeats is sometimes seen (––〃––).[9] In French, it is called a Script error: No such module "Lang"., but the actual symbol used may vary: Template:Char is used in Quebec, while in France Template:Char is preferred.[10] For Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there is the specific Unicode character Page Template:Mono/styles.css has no content.U+3003 〃 Script error: No such module "Unicode data". in the range CJK Symbols and Punctuation. This facilitates the setting of both marks on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text.
In China the corresponding historical mark was two horizontal lines Template:Char (Unicode Page Template:Mono/styles.css has no content.U+16FE3 𖿣 Script error: No such module "Unicode data".), which is also the ancient ideograph of "two", similar to the modern ideograph Template:Char. It is found in bronze script from the Zhou dynasty, as in the example at right (c. 825 BCE). In seal script form this became Template:Char, and is now written as Template:Char; see iteration mark.
In the Maya script, a pair of small dots may appear above or in front of a glyph to indicate that it should be read twice. This duplication diacritic functions as a phonetic doubling device, typically applied to syllabic signs. For example, the Maya word kakaw ("cacao") can be written with a ka sign marked by two small prefixed dots, signaling that it be read as ka-ka, followed by wa.[11][12]
See also
Page Module:Side box/styles.css has no content.Page Template:Sister project/styles.css has no content.
References
Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Ditto mark. Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
A symbol formed from two apostrophes (〃) representing 'ditto'.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ditto mark". Collins Dictionaries. Retrieved 30 December 2019.
two small marks (") placed under something to indicate that it is to be repeated
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ditto—Definition for English-Language Learners". Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary. Merriam Webster. Archived from the original on 2015-05-05. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
A pair of marks " used underneath a word to save space and show that the word is repeated where the marks are.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ditto". Cambridge Dictionaries. Retrieved 30 December 2019. but the Cambridge Dictionary of Business English on the same page uses the CJK ditto mark Template:Char
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Angus Stevenson; Maurice Waite, eds. (18 August 2011). The Concise Oxford Dictionary. OUP Oxford. ISBN 9780199601110.
- ^ K.4375 and File:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."ditto". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2025-03-23.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."U.S. Patent 2,482,761" (PDF). United States Patent Office. Retrieved 14 Jan 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."gjentagelsestegn - Det Norske Akademis ordbok" [repetition signs - The Norwegian Academy's dictionary] (in norsk bokmål). Norwegian Academy. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Banque de dépannage linguistique: Guillemets itératifs" [Linguistic help desk: Iterative quotes] (in français). Office québécois de la langue française. Retrieved 31 May 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mora-Marín, David F. (2024). "The duplication diacritic: A case study of variation and change in Mayan writing". Ancient Mesoamerica. 35 (2): 562–587. doi:10.1017/S0956536123000317.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Stuart, David (2014-02-25). ""Hieroglyphic Miscellany" from 1990". Maya Decipherment. Retrieved 2025-05-06.
.jpg){kind=link}
