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The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a
typographical Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing (leading), and ...
symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as star (as, for example, in ''the
A* search algorithm A* (pronounced "A-star") is a graph traversal and path search algorithm, which is used in many fields of computer science due to its completeness, optimality, and optimal efficiency. One major practical drawback is its O(b^d) space complexity, ...
'' or ''
C*-algebra In mathematics, specifically in functional analysis, a C∗-algebra (pronounced "C-star") is a Banach algebra together with an involution satisfying the properties of the adjoint. A particular case is that of a complex algebra ''A'' of continuou ...
''). In English, an asterisk is usually five- or six-pointed in sans-serif typefaces, six-pointed in
serif In typography, a serif () is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface ( ...
typefaces, and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten. Its most common use is to call out a footnote. It is also often used to censor offensive words. In computer science, the asterisk is commonly used as a
wildcard character In software, a wildcard character is a kind of placeholder represented by a single character, such as an asterisk (), which can be interpreted as a number of literal characters or an empty string. It is often used in file searches so the full na ...
, or to denote pointers, repetition, or multiplication.


History

The asterisk has already been used as a symbol in ice age cave paintings. There is also a two thousand-year-old character used by
Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...
called the , , which he used when proofreading Homeric poetry to mark lines that were duplicated.
Origen Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theolo ...
is known to have also used the asteriskos to mark missing Hebrew lines from his Hexapla. The asterisk evolved in shape over time, but its meaning as a symbol used to correct defects remained. In the Middle Ages, the asterisk was used to emphasize a particular part of text, often linking those parts of the text to a marginal comment. However, an asterisk was not always used. One hypothesis to the origin of the asterisk is that it stems from the 5000-year-old Sumerian character dingir, , though this hypothesis seems to only be based on visual appearance.


Usage


Censorship

When toning down
expletive Expletive may refer to: * Expletive (linguistics), a word or phrase that is not needed to express the basic meaning of the sentence *Expletive pronoun, a pronoun used as subject or other verb argument that is meaningless but syntactically required ...
s, asterisks are often used to replace letters. For example, the word "badword" might become "ba***rd", "b*****d", "b******" or even "*******". Vowels tend to be censored with an asterisk more than consonants, but the intelligibility of censored profanities with multiple syllables such as "b*dw*rd" and "b*****d" or "ba****d", or uncommon ones is higher if put in context with surrounding text. When a document containing
classified information Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...
is published, the document may be "sanitized" ( redacted) by replacing the classified information with asterisks. For example, the
Intelligence and Security Committee Russia report "The Russia report" is the report of the British Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) into allegations of Russian interference in British politics, including alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum and the ...
.


Competitive sports and games

In colloquial usage, an asterisk attached to a sporting record indicates that it is somehow tainted. This is because results that have been considered dubious or set aside are recorded in the record books with an asterisk rendering to a footnote explaining the reason or reasons for concern.


Baseball

The usage of the term in sports arose during the 1961 baseball season in which Roger Maris of the New York Yankees was threatening to break
Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...
's 34-year-old single-season home run record. Ruth had amassed 60 home runs in a season with only 154 games, but Maris was playing the first season in the American League's newly expanded 162-game season. Baseball Commissioner
Ford Frick Ford Christopher Frick (December 19, 1894 – April 8, 1978) was an American sportswriter and baseball executive. After working as a teacher and as a sportswriter for the ''New York American'', he served as public relations director of the Natio ...
, a friend of Ruth's during the legendary slugger's lifetime, held a press conference to announce his "ruling" that should Maris take longer than 154 games both records would be acknowledged by Major League Baseball, but that some "distinctive mark" is termref name=Salon> be placed next to Maris', which should be listed alongside Ruth's achievement in the "record books". The asterisk as such a mark was suggested at that time by New York Daily News sportswriter Dick Young, not Frick. The reality, however, was that MLB actually had no direct control over any record books until many years later, and it all was merely a suggestion on Frick's part. Within a few years the controversy died down and all prominent baseball record keepers listed Maris as the single-season record holder. Nevertheless, the stigma of holding a tainted record remained with Maris for many years, and the concept of a real or figurative asterisk denoting less-than-accepted "official" records has become widely used in sports and other competitive endeavors. A 2001
TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
about Maris's record-breaking season was called '' 61*'' (pronounced ''sixty-one asterisk'') in reference to the controversy. Uproar over the integrity of baseball records and whether or not qualifications should be added to them arose again in the late 1990s, when a steroid-fueled power explosion led to the shattering of Maris' record. Even though it was obvious - and later admitted - by Mark McGwire that he was heavily on steroids when he hit 70 home runs in 1998, ruling authorities did nothing to the annoyance of many fans and sportswriters. Three years later self-confessed steroid-user
Barry Bonds Barry Lamar Bonds (born July 24, 1964) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Bonds was a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986 to 1992 and the San Francisco Giants ...
pushed that record out to 73, and fans once again began to call for an asterisk in the sport's record books. Fans were especially critical and clamored louder for baseball to act during the 2007 season, as Bonds approached and later broke Hank Aaron's career home run record of 755. After an investigation by MLB revealed the Houston Astros' involvement in a sign-stealing scheme during the 2017 season, where they won the World Series, fans appalled by what they perceived to be overly lenient discipline against the Astros players nicknamed the team the "Houston Asterisks". In recent years, the asterisk has come into use on baseball scorecards to denote a "great defensive play."


Usage in anti-doping campaigns

*By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the association of baseball and its records with doping had become so notorious that the term "asterisk" had become firmly associated with doping in sport. In February 2011 the United States Olympic Committee and the
Ad Council The Advertising Council, commonly known as the Ad Council, is an American nonprofit organization that produces, distributes, and promotes public service announcements on behalf of various sponsors, including nonprofit organizations, non-governme ...
launched an anti-steroid campaign called "Play Asterisk Free" aimed at teens. The campaign, whose logo uses a heavy asterisk(✱), first launched in 2008 under the name Don't Be An Asterisk.


Cricket

* In
cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
, it signifies a total number of runs scored by a batsman without losing his wicket; e.g. "107*" means "107
not out In cricket, a batter is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batter is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at th ...
". * Where only the scores of the two batsmen that are currently in are being shown, an asterisk following a batsman's score indicates that he is due to face the next ball to be delivered. * When written before a player's name on a scorecard, it indicates the
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
of the team. * It is also used on television when giving a career statistic during a match. For example, "47*" in a number of matches column means that the current game is the player's 47th.


Other sports

During the first decades of the 21st century, the term ''asterisk'' to denote a tainted accomplishment caught on in other sports first in North America and then, due in part to North American sports' widespread media exposure, around the world.


Computing


Computer science

* In computer science, the asterisk is used in regular expressions to denote zero or more repetitions of a pattern; this use is also known as the ''
Kleene star In mathematical logic and computer science, the Kleene star (or Kleene operator or Kleene closure) is a unary operation, either on sets of strings or on sets of symbols or characters. In mathematics, it is more commonly known as the free monoid ...
'' or ''Kleene closure'' after Stephen Kleene. In the
Unified Modeling Language The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. The creation of UML was originally ...
, the asterisk is used to denote zero to many classes.


Computer interfaces

* In some
command line interface A command-line interpreter or command-line processor uses a command-line interface (CLI) to receive command (computing), commands from a user in the form of lines of text. This provides a means of setting parameters for the environment, invokin ...
s, such as the Unix shell and Microsoft's CMD, the asterisk is the ''
wildcard character In software, a wildcard character is a kind of placeholder represented by a single character, such as an asterisk (), which can be interpreted as a number of literal characters or an empty string. It is often used in file searches so the full na ...
'' and stands for any string of
characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
. This is also known as a wildcard symbol. A common use of the wildcard is in searching for files on a computer. For instance, if a user wished to find a document called Document 1, search terms such as Doc* and D*ment* would return this file. Document* would also return any file that begins with Document. * In some
graphical user interface The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, ins ...
s an asterisk is pre- or appended to the current working document name shown in a window's title bar to indicate that unsaved changes exist. * In many computing and
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
applications an asterisk, or another character, is displayed to indicate that a character of a password or other confidential information has been entered, without the risk of displaying the actual character. * In
Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore'' * Air commodore ...
(and related) files systems, an asterisk appearing next to a filename in a directory listing denotes an improperly closed file, commonly called a "splat file". * In travel industry Global Distribution Systems, the asterisk is the display command to retrieve all or part of a Passenger Name Record. * In
HTML The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaS ...
web forms, an asterisk can be used to denote required fields. * Chat room etiquette calls on one asterisk to correct a misspelled word that has already been submitted. For example, one could post lck, then follow it with *luck or luck* (the placement of the * on the left or right is a matter of personal style) to correct the word's spelling, or if it's someone else that notices the mistake, they might also use *luck or luck*. ** Enclosing a phrase between two asterisks is used to denote an action the user is "performing", e.g. *pulls out a paper*, although this usage is also common on forums, and less so on most chat rooms due to /me or similar commands.
Hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes ( figure ...
s (-action-) and double colons (::action::) as well as the operator /me are also used for similar purposes.


=Adding machines and printing calculators

= * Some models of
adding machine An adding machine is a class of mechanical calculator, usually specialized for bookkeeping calculations. In the United States, the earliest adding machines were usually built to read in dollars and cents. Adding machines were ubiquitous off ...
s and printing calculators use the asterisk to denote the ''total'', or the terminal sum or difference of an addition or subtraction sequence, respectively. The symbol is sometimes given on the printout to indicate this total.


Programming languages

Many
programming language A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language. The description of a programming ...
s and
calculator An electronic calculator is typically a portable electronic device used to perform calculations, ranging from basic arithmetic to complex mathematics. The first solid-state electronic calculator was created in the early 1960s. Pocket-sized ...
s use the asterisk as a symbol for multiplication. It also has a number of special meanings in specific languages, for instance: * In some programming languages such as the C, C++, and Go programming languages, the asterisk is used to dereference or declare a pointer variable. * In the
Common Lisp Common Lisp (CL) is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ''ANSI INCITS 226-1994 (S20018)'' (formerly ''X3.226-1994 (R1999)''). The Common Lisp HyperSpec, a hyperlinked HTML version, has been derived fr ...
programming language, the names of
global variable In computer programming, a global variable is a variable with global scope, meaning that it is visible (hence accessible) throughout the program, unless shadowed. The set of all global variables is known as the ''global environment'' or ''global s ...
s are conventionally set off with asterisks, *LIKE-THIS*. * In the
Ada Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, T ...
, Fortran,
Perl Perl is a family of two high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages. "Perl" refers to Perl 5, but from 2000 to 2019 it also referred to its redesigned "sister language", Perl 6, before the latter's name was offic ...
, Python,
Ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...
programming languages, in some dialects of the
Pascal programming language Pascal is an imperative and procedural programming language, designed by Niklaus Wirth as a small, efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring. It is named in honour o ...
, and many others, a double asterisk is used to signify
exponentiation Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the '' base'' and the ''exponent'' or ''power'' , and pronounced as " (raised) to the (power of) ". When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to ...
: 5**3 is 53 = 125. * In the Perl programming language, the asterisk is used to refer to the '' typeglob'' of all variables with a given name. * In the programming languages
Ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...
and Python, * has two specific uses. First, the unary * operator applied to a list object inside a function call will expand that list into the arguments of the function call. Second, a parameter preceded by * in the parameter list for a function will result in any extra positional parameters being aggregated into a
tuple In mathematics, a tuple is a finite ordered list (sequence) of elements. An -tuple is a sequence (or ordered list) of elements, where is a non-negative integer. There is only one 0-tuple, referred to as ''the empty tuple''. An -tuple is defi ...
(Python) or array (Ruby), and likewise a parameter preceded by ** will result in any extra keyword parameters being aggregated into a
dictionary A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologie ...
(Python) or
hash Hash, hashes, hash mark, or hashing may refer to: Substances * Hash (food), a coarse mixture of ingredients * Hash, a nickname for hashish, a cannabis product Hash mark *Hash mark (sports), a marking on hockey rinks and gridiron football fiel ...
(Ruby). * In the APL language, the asterisk represents the exponential and
exponentiation Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the '' base'' and the ''exponent'' or ''power'' , and pronounced as " (raised) to the (power of) ". When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to ...
functions, with *X representing eX, and Y*X representing YX. * In IBM
Job Control Language Job Control Language (JCL) is a name for scripting languages used on IBM mainframe operating systems to instruct the system on how to run a batch job or start a subsystem. More specifically, the purpose of JCL is to say which programs to run, u ...
, the asterisk has various functions, including in-stream data in the DD statement, the default print stream as SYSOUT=*, and as a self-reference in place of a procedure step name to refer to the same procedure step where it appears. * In Haskell, the asterisk represents the set of well-formed, fully applied types; that is, a 0-ary ''kind'' of types. * In many markup programming languages, putting text between two asterisks makes the text bold or italic. For example, *Hello world!* will often turn into "Hello world!" or "''Hello world!''".


=Comments in programming languages

= In the B programming language and languages that borrow syntax from it, such as C, PHP,
Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...
, or C#, comments in the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a program is specially designed to facilitate the ...
(for information to people, ignored by the
compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs tha ...
) are marked by an asterisk combined with the slash: /* This section displays message if user input was not valid (comment ignored by compiler) */ Some
Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Frenc ...
-like programming languages, for example,
Object Pascal Object Pascal is an extension to the programming language Pascal that provides object-oriented programming (OOP) features such as classes and methods. The language was originally developed by Apple Computer as ''Clascal'' for the Lisa Worksh ...
,
Modula-2 Modula-2 is a structured, procedural programming language developed between 1977 and 1985/8 by Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zurich. It was created as the language for the operating system and application software of the Lilith personal workstation. It ...
,
Modula-3 Modula-3 is a programming language conceived as a successor to an upgraded version of Modula-2 known as Modula-2+. While it has been influential in research circles (influencing the designs of languages such as Java, C#, and Python) it has not ...
, and Oberon, as well as several other languages including ML,
Wolfram Language The Wolfram Language ( ) is a general multi-paradigm programming language developed by Wolfram Research. It emphasizes symbolic computation, functional programming, and rule-based programming and can employ arbitrary structures and data. It ...
(
Mathematica Wolfram Mathematica is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allow machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network analysis, time series analysis, NLP, optimiza ...
), AppleScript,
OCaml OCaml ( , formerly Objective Caml) is a general-purpose, multi-paradigm programming language Programming paradigms are a way to classify programming languages based on their features. Languages can be classified into multiple paradigms. ...
,
Standard ML Standard ML (SML) is a general-purpose, modular, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and type inference. It is popular among compiler writers and programming language researchers, as well as in the development of ...
, and
Maple ''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since h ...
, use an asterisk combined with a parenthesis: (* Do not change this variable - it is used later (comment ignored by compiler) *)
CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone technolo ...
also uses the slash-star comment format. body Each computing language has its own way of handling comments; and similar notations are not universal.


Economics

* In
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
, the use of an asterisk after a letter indicating a variable such as
price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...
, output, or
employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...
indicates that the variable is at its optimal level (that which is achieved in a perfect market situation). For instance, ''p''* is the price level ''p'' when output ''y'' is at its corresponding optimal level of ''y''*. * Also in international economics asterisks are commonly used to denote economic variables in a foreign country. So, for example, "''p''" is the price of the home good and "''p''*" is the price of the foreign good, etc.


Education

* In the
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
and
A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
examinations in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
and the PSLE in
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
, A* ("''A''-star") is a special top grade that is distinguished from grade A. (This will phase out starting from 2021.) * In the
Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education The Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination (HKDSE) is an examination organised by the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA). The HKDSE examination is Hong Kong's university entrance examination, administer ...
(HKDSE) examination in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...
, 5** (5-star-star) and 5* (5-star) are two special top grades that are distinguished from Level 5. Level 5** is the highest level a candidate can attain in HKDSE.


Fluid mechanics

In
fluid mechanics Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids ( liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces on them. It has applications in a wide range of disciplines, including mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical and ...
an asterisk in superscript is sometimes used to mean a property at sonic speed.


Games

*Certain categories of character types in
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
s are called splats, and the game supplements describing them are called splatbooks. This usage originated with the shorthand "*book" for this type of supplement to various World of Darkness games, such as ''Clanbook: Ventrue'' (for '' Vampire: The Masquerade'') or ''Tribebook: Black Furies'' (for '' Werewolf: The Apocalypse''), and this usage has spread to other games with similar character-type supplements. For example, ''
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TS ...
'' Third Edition has had several lines of splatbooks: the "X & Y" series including ''Sword & Fist'' and ''Tome & Blood'' prior to the "3.5" revision, the "Complete X" series including ''Complete Warrior'' and ''Complete Divine'', and the "Races of X" series including ''Races of Stone'' and ''Races of the Wild''. *In many MUDs and MOOs, as well as "male", "female", and other more esoteric genders, there is a gender called "splat", which uses an asterisk to replace the letters that differ in standard English gender pronouns. For example, ''h*'' is used rather than ''him'' or ''her''. Also, asterisks are used to signify doing an action, for example, "*''action''*". *
Game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...
producer Mark Goodson used a six-pointed asterisk as his trademark. It is featured prominently on many set pieces from '' The Price Is Right.'' *
Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
players put an asterisk after a word to indicate that an illegal play was made.


Human genetics

*In human genetics, * is used to denote that someone is a member of a
haplogroup A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a haplogroup (haploid from the el, ἁπλοῦς, ''haploûs'', "onefold, simple" and en, group) is a group of similar haplotypes that share ...
and not any of its subclades (see * (haplogroup)).


Linguistics

In
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Ling ...
, an asterisk is placed before a word or phrase to indicate that it is not used, or there are no records of it being in use. This is used in several ways depending on what is being discussed. It may be used to indicate reconstructed words in proto-languages for which there are no records of the pronunciation, grammar and words.


Historical linguistics

In
historical linguistics Historical linguistics, also termed diachronic linguistics, is the scientific study of language change over time. Principal concerns of historical linguistics include: # to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages # ...
, the asterisk marks words or phrases that are not directly recorded in texts or other
media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...
, and that are therefore reconstructed on the basis of other linguistic material (see also
comparative method In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards t ...
). In the following example, the
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
word is a reconstructed form. * → → ''eleven'' A double asterisk indicates a form that would be expected according to a rule, but is not actually found. That is, it indicates a ''reconstructed'' form that is not found or used, and in place of which ''another'' form is found in actual usage: * For the plural, * would be expected, but separate masculine plural and feminine plural are found as irregular forms.


Ungrammaticality

In most areas of linguistics, but especially in
syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituenc ...
, an asterisk in front of a word or phrase indicates that the word or phrase is not used because it is ungrammatical. *wake her up / *wake up her An asterisk before a parenthesis indicates that the lack of the word or phrase inside is ungrammatical, while an asterisk after the opening bracket of the parenthesis indicates that the existence of the word or phrase inside is ungrammatical. *go *(to) the station - Here, "go the station" would be ungrammatical. *go (*to) home - Here, "go to home" would be ungrammatical.


= Ambiguity

= Since a word marked with an asterisk could mean either "unattested" or "impossible", it is important in some contexts to distinguish these meanings. In general, authors retain asterisks for "unattested", and prefix x, **, †, or ? for the latter meaning. An alternative is to append the asterisk (or another symbol, possibly to differentiate between even more cases) at the end.


Optimality theory

In optimality theory, asterisks are used as "violation marks" in tableau cells to denote a violation of a constraint by an output form.


Phonetic transcription

In phonetic transcription using the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
, an asterisk was sometimes historically used to denote that the word it preceded was a proper noun. See this example from W. Perrett's 1921 transcription of Gottfried Keller's "": :, ! . :(') This diacritic isn't often used.


Mathematics

The asterisk has many uses in
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
. The following list highlights some common uses and is not exhaustive. ;stand-alone: * An arbitrary point in some set. Seen, for example, when computing
Riemann sums In mathematics, a Riemann sum is a certain kind of approximation of an integral by a finite sum. It is named after nineteenth century German mathematician Bernhard Riemann. One very common application is approximating the area of functions or li ...
or when contracting a simply connected group to the singleton set . ;as a
unary operator In mathematics, an unary operation is an operation with only one operand, i.e. a single input. This is in contrast to binary operations, which use two operands. An example is any function , where is a set. The function is a unary operation o ...
, denoted in prefix notation: * The
Hodge star operator In mathematics, the Hodge star operator or Hodge star is a linear map defined on the exterior algebra of a finite-dimensional oriented vector space endowed with a nondegenerate symmetric bilinear form. Applying the operator to an element of the ...
on vector spaces *: A^k \rightarrow A^. ;as a unary operator, written as a
subscript A subscript or superscript is a character (such as a number or letter) that is set slightly below or above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than the rest of the text. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, whil ...
: * The pushforward (differential) of a smooth map ''f'' between two smooth manifolds, denoted ''f''. * And more generally the application of any covariant
functor In mathematics, specifically category theory, a functor is a mapping between categories. Functors were first considered in algebraic topology, where algebraic objects (such as the fundamental group) are associated to topological spaces, and m ...
, where no doubt exists over which functor is meant. ;as a unary operator, written as a
superscript A subscript or superscript is a character (such as a number or letter) that is set slightly below or above the normal line of type, respectively. It is usually smaller than the rest of the text. Subscripts appear at or below the baseline, whil ...
: * The
complex conjugate In mathematics, the complex conjugate of a complex number is the number with an equal real part and an imaginary part equal in magnitude but opposite in sign. That is, (if a and b are real, then) the complex conjugate of a + bi is equal to a - ...
of a
complex number In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the fo ...
(the more common notation is \bar). * The conjugate in a composition algebra * The
conjugate transpose In mathematics, the conjugate transpose, also known as the Hermitian transpose, of an m \times n complex matrix \boldsymbol is an n \times m matrix obtained by transposing \boldsymbol and applying complex conjugate on each entry (the complex c ...
, Hermitian transpose, or adjoint matrix of a
matrix Matrix most commonly refers to: * ''The Matrix'' (franchise), an American media franchise ** '' The Matrix'', a 1999 science-fiction action film ** "The Matrix", a fictional setting, a virtual reality environment, within ''The Matrix'' (franchi ...
. * Hermitian adjoint. * The
multiplicative group In mathematics and group theory, the term multiplicative group refers to one of the following concepts: *the group under multiplication of the invertible elements of a field, ring, or other structure for which one of its operations is referre ...
of the units of a ring; when the ring is a field, this is the group of all nonzero elements. For example, \mathbb^* = \mathbb\setminus\. * The
dual space In mathematics, any vector space ''V'' has a corresponding dual vector space (or just dual space for short) consisting of all linear forms on ''V'', together with the vector space structure of pointwise addition and scalar multiplication by cons ...
of a
vector space In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called '' vectors'', may be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called ''scalars''. Scalars are often real numbers, but can ...
''V'', denoted ''V*''. * The combination of an indexed collection of objects into one example, e.g. the combination of all the
cohomology groups In mathematics, specifically in homology theory and algebraic topology, cohomology is a general term for a sequence of abelian groups, usually one associated with a topological space, often defined from a cochain complex. Cohomology can be viewe ...
''Hk''(''X'') into the
cohomology ring In mathematics, specifically algebraic topology, the cohomology ring of a topological space ''X'' is a ring formed from the cohomology groups of ''X'' together with the cup product serving as the ring multiplication. Here 'cohomology' is usually un ...
''H''*(''X''). * The reflexive transitive closure of a
binary relation In mathematics, a binary relation associates elements of one set, called the ''domain'', with elements of another set, called the ''codomain''. A binary relation over sets and is a new set of ordered pairs consisting of elements in and in ...
. * In statistics, ''z*'' and ''t*'' are given critical points for ''z''-distributions and ''t''-distributions, respectively. ;as a
binary operator In mathematics, a binary operation or dyadic operation is a rule for combining two elements (called operands) to produce another element. More formally, a binary operation is an operation of arity two. More specifically, an internal binary o ...
, in
infix notation Infix notation is the notation commonly used in arithmetical and logical formulae and statements. It is characterized by the placement of operators between operands—" infixed operators"—such as the plus sign in . Usage Binary relations are ...
: * A notation for an arbitrary binary operator. * The free product of two
groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
. * ''f'' ∗ ''g'' is a
convolution In mathematics (in particular, functional analysis), convolution is a mathematical operation on two functions ( and ) that produces a third function (f*g) that expresses how the shape of one is modified by the other. The term ''convolution'' ...
of ''f'' with ''g''. * A notation for the horizontal composition of two natural transformations. * A notation to denote a parallel sum of two operands (most authors, however, instead use a : or ∥ sign for this purpose). The asterisk is used in all branches of mathematics to designate a correspondence between two quantities denoted by the same letter – one with the asterisk and one without.


Mathematical typography

In fine mathematical typography, the
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
character (in HTML, ∗) is available. This character also appeared in the position of the regular asterisk in the
PostScript PostScript (PS) is a page description language in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language. It was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Do ...
symbol character set in the ''Symbol'' font included with Windows and Macintosh operating systems and with many printers. It should be used in fine typography for a large asterisk that lines up with the other mathematical operators.


Music

* In
musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation f ...
the sign () indicates when the sustain pedal of the piano should be lifted. * In liturgical music, an asterisk is often used to denote a deliberate pause.


Religious texts

*In the Geneva Bible and the King James Bible, an asterisk is used to indicate a marginal comment or scripture reference. *In the Leeser Bible, an asterisk is used to mark off the seven subdivisions of the weekly Torah portion. It is also used to mark the few verses to be repeated by the reader of the Haftara. *In American printings of the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...
'', an asterisk is used to divide a verse of a Psalm in two portions for responsive reading. British printings use a spaced colon (" : ") for the same purpose. *In pointed psalms, an asterisk is used to denote a break or breath.


Star of Life

A Star of Life, a six-bar star overlaid with the
Rod of Asclepius In Greek mythology, the Rod of Asclepius (⚕; grc, Ράβδος του Ασκληπιού, , sometimes also spelled Asklepios), also known as the Staff of Aesculapius and as the asklepian, is a serpent-entwined rod wielded by the Greek god ...
(the symbol of health), may be used as an alternative to cross or crescent symbols on ambulances.


Statistical results

In many scientific publications, the asterisk is employed as a shorthand to denote the
statistical significance In statistical hypothesis testing, a result has statistical significance when it is very unlikely to have occurred given the null hypothesis (simply by chance alone). More precisely, a study's defined significance level, denoted by \alpha, is the p ...
of results when testing
hypotheses A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
. When the likelihood that a result occurred by chance alone is below a certain level, one or more asterisks are displayed. Popular significance levels are <0.05 (*), <0.01 (**), and <0.001 (***).


Telephony

On a tone dialling telephone keypad, the asterisk (called ''star'', or less commonly, ''palm'' or ''
sextile In astrology, an aspect is an angle that planets make to each other in the Horoscope; as well as to the Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant, Lower Midheaven, and other points of astrological interest. As viewed from Earth, aspects are measured ...
'') is one of the two special keys (the other is the 'square key almost invariably replaced by the
number sign The symbol is known variously in English-speaking regions as the number sign, hash, or pound sign. The symbol has historically been used for a wide range of purposes including the designation of an ordinal number and as a ligatured abbreviati ...
(called 'pound sign' (US), 'hash' (other countries), or 'hex'), and is found to the left of the zero.) They are used to navigate menus in systems such as voice mail, or in vertical service codes.


Typography

* The asterisk is used to call out a footnote, especially when there is only one on the page. Less commonly, multiple asterisks are used to denote different footnotes on a page (i.e., *, **, ***).Walter Thomas Rogers: ''A Manual of Bibliography: Being an Introduction to the Knowledge of Books, Library Management and the Art of Cataloguing, with a List of Bibliographical Works of Reference, a Latin-English and English-Latin Topographical Index of Ancient Printing Centres, and a Glossary.'' H. Grevel & Co., London 1891, p. 184
Google Books
.
Typically, an asterisk is positioned after a word or phrase and preceding its accompanying footnote. Other characters are also used for this purpose, such as
dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use def ...
(†, ‡) or superscript letters and numbers (as in Wikipedia). In marketing and advertising, asterisks or other symbols are used to refer readers discreetly to terms or conditions for a certain statement, the "
small print Fine print, small print, or mouseprint is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service. The larger print that is us ...
". * In English-language typography the asterisk is placed after all other punctuation marks (for example, commas, colons, or periods) except for the dash. * Three spaced asterisks centered on a page is called a dinkus and may represent a jump to a different scene, thought, or
section Section, Sectioning or Sectioned may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Section (music), a complete, but not independent, musical idea * Section (typography), a subdivision, especially of a chapter, in books and documents ** Section sig ...
. * A group of three asterisks arranged in a triangular formation is called an asterism. It may be used instead of a name on a title page. * One or more asterisks may be used as censorship over all or part of a word. * Asterisks are sometimes used as an alternative to typographical bullets to indicate items of a list. * Asterisks can be used in textual media to represent * emphasis* when
bold In typography, emphasis is the strengthening of words in a text with a font in a different style from the rest of the text, to highlight them. It is the equivalent of prosody stress in speech. Methods and use The most common methods in W ...
or italic text is not available (e.g.,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
,
text messaging Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...
). * Asterisks may denote conversational
repair The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, and residential installa ...
, or corrections to misspelling or misstatements in previous electronic messages, particularly when replacement or retraction of a previous writing is not possible, such as with "immediate delivery" messages or "instant messages" that can't be edited. Usually this takes the form of a message consisting solely of the corrected text, with an asterisk placed before (or after) the correction. For example, one might send a message reading "*morning" or "morning*" to correct the misspelling in the message "I had a good ". * Bounding asterisks as "a kind of self-describing stage direction", as linguist Ben Zimmer has put it. For example, in "''Another gas station robbery *sigh*''", the writer uses *sigh* to express disappointment (but does not necessarily literally sigh).


Encodings

The
Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology standard for the consistent encoding, representation, and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems. The standard, ...
standard has a variety of asterisk-like characters, compared in the table below. (Characters will display differently in different browsers and fonts.) The reason there are so many is chiefly because of the controversial decision to include in Unicode the entire Zapf Dingbats symbol font. #


See also

* * * * *
Reference mark The reference mark or reference symbol "※" is a typographic mark or word used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) writing. The symbol was used historically to call attention to an important sentence or idea, such as a prologue or footnote ...
(), the symbol used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean typography for an equivalent purpose


Notes


References

{{navbox punctuation Punctuation Ancient Greek punctuation