Section sign

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The section sign (§) is a typographical symbol for referencing individually numbered sections of a document; it is frequently used when citing sections of a legal code.[1] It is also known as the section symbol, section mark, double-s, or silcrow.[2][3]

The section sign typically appears akin to a letter S stacked on top of another S.[4]

Use

The section sign is often used when referring to a specific section of a legal code. For example, in Bluebook style, "Title 16 of the United States Code Section 580p" becomes "16 U.S.C. § 580p".[5] The section sign is frequently used along with the pilcrow (or paragraph sign), Template:Char, to reference a specific paragraph within a section of a document. However, some jurisdictions prefer the sign be avoided, and rather that the word "section" be written out in full.[6]

While Template:Char is usually read in spoken English as the word "section", many other languages use the word "paragraph" exclusively to refer to a section of a document (especially of legal text), and use other words to describe a paragraph in the English sense. Consequently, in those cases "§" may be read as "paragraph", and may occasionally also be described as a "paragraph sign", but this is a description of its usage, not a formal name.[7][8]

When duplicated, as Template:Char, it is read as the plural "sections". For example, "§§ 13–21" would be read as "sections 13 through 21", much as Template:Char (pages) is the plural of Template:Char, meaning page.

It may also be used with footnotes when asterisk Template:Char, dagger Template:Char, and double dagger Template:Char have already been used on a given page.

It is common practice to follow the section sign with a non-breaking space so that the symbol is kept with the section number being cited.[1][9]Template:Rp

This is also used in German language (Template:Langx). For example, "Script error: No such module "Lang"." (article 242 of the German Criminal Code).[10]

Unicode

File:Parágrafo.PNG
Two common representations of the section sign

The section sign appeared in several early computer text encodings. It was placed at Template:Tt (167) in ISO-8859-1, a position that was inherited by Unicode as code point Page Template:Mono/styles.css has no content.U+00A7 § Script error: No such module "Unicode data".. Representation of the sign is an artistic decision within the overall design language of the typeface (or computer font): the two more commonly seen forms are shown here.[11] In all cases, the sign is encoded by U+00A7.

Origin

Two possible origins are often posited for the section sign: most probably, that it is a ligature formed by the combination of two S glyphs (from the Latin signum sectiōnis).[12][2][13][14] Some scholars, however, are skeptical of this explanation.[15]

Others have theorized that it is an adaptation of the Ancient Greek Script error: No such module "Lang". (paragraphos),[13] a catch-all term for a class of punctuation marks used by scribes with diverse shapes and intended uses.[16]

The modern form of the sign, with its modern meaning, has been in use since the 15th century.[17]

Other usages for the symbol

In Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk, the Template:Char symbol is used repeatedly to mean "bureaucracy". In his English translation of 1930, Paul Selver translated it as "red tape".

In The Sims and SimCity video game franchises, the § symbol represents the fictional "Simoleon" in-game currency.[18]

See also

  • Pilcrow (¶), the historic indicator of an (un-numbered) new paragraph in English
  • Scilicet ("it may be known") is sometimes rendered using a § mark instead of "viz."

References

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Standler, Ronald M. (2004). "Legal Research and Citation Style in USA". Retrieved 2009-12-15.
  2. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Radoeva, Krista (2017-01-12). "The section sign". Punctuation series. Monotype Imaging. Archived from the original on 2022-11-29. Retrieved 2020-07-19.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Butterick, Matthew. "Butterick's Practical Typography: Paragraphs and Section Marks". Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."How to Use a Section Mark or Silcrow | Monotype". www.monotype.com. 2 August 2022.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Guides: Bluebook Guide: Federal Statutes". Georgetown University Law Library. August 9, 2018. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Symbols :: California Secretary of State". www.sos.ca.gov. Retrieved 2025-07-05.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Unicode Standard, Version 10.0 – C1 Controls and Latin-1 Supplement" (PDF). Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Some text-to-speech voices read the section symbol as paragraph instead of section". Retrieved 2017-10-07.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Felici, James (2012). The Complete Manual of Typography (Second ed.). ISBN 978-0-321-77326-5.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Toyka-Seid, Gerd Schneider Christiane. "Paragraf (§)". BPB.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Manual: *@©™®†‡§¶❦☜". type.today.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Webb, Stephen (2018). Clash of Symbols (eBook). Springer International Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 978-3-319-71350-2.
  13. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Webster, Noah (1886). "Arbitrary signs used in writing and printing". Webster's Complete Dictionary of the English Language (Authorized and Unabridged ed.). London: George Bell & Sons. p. 1784 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Parker, Richard Green (1851). [[[:Template:GBurl]] Aids to English Composition, Prepared for Students of All Grades]. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 32. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help)
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lewis, Erwin Herbert (1894). [[[:Template:GBurl]] The History of the English Paragraph] (Thesis). University of Chicago Press. pp. 11, 16–17. OCLC 6077629. {{cite thesis}}: Check |url= value (help)
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Garulli, Valentina (2018-10-09). "Lectional Signs in Greek Verse Inscriptions". In Petrovic, Andrej; Thomas, Edmund; Petrovic, Ivana (eds.). The Materiality of Text: Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity (eBook). Brill Publishers. p. 106. doi:10.1163/9789004379435_006. ISBN 978-90-04-37943-5. S2CID 198732053.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lewis, Edwin Herbert (1894). The history of the English paragraph. University of Chicago. p. 16 – via Archive.org.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Simoleon". The Sims Wiki. July 29, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2026.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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