The full stop (
Commonwealth English
The use of the English language in current and former member countries of the Commonwealth of Nations was largely inherited from British colonisation, with some exceptions. English serves as the medium of inter-Commonwealth relations.
Many ...
), period (
North American English
North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), ...
), or full point , is a
punctuation
Punctuation (or sometimes interpunction) is the use of spacing, conventional signs (called punctuation marks), and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading of written text, whether read silently or aloud. A ...
mark. It is used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a
declarative sentence
In linguistics and grammar, a sentence is a linguistic expression, such as the English example " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In traditional grammar, it is typically defined as a string of words that expresses a complete thoug ...
(as distinguished from a
question
A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interroga ...
or exclamation). This sentence-ending use, alone, defines the strictest sense of ''full stop''. Although ''full stop'' technically applies only when the mark is used to end a sentence, the distinction – drawn since at least 1897
– is not maintained by all modern style guides and dictionaries.
The mark is also used, singly, to indicate omitted characters or, in a series, as an
ellipsis
The ellipsis (, also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. The plural is ellipses. The term origin ...
(), to indicate omitted words. It may be placed after an initial letter used to stand for a name or after each individual letter in an
initialism or acronym (e.g., "U.S.A."). However, the use of full stops after letters in an initialism or acronym is declining, and many of these without punctuation have become accepted norms (e.g., "UK" and "NATO"). This trend has progressed somewhat more slowly in the United States than in other
English language dialects.
A full stop is frequently used at the end of word
abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
s – in
British usage, primarily truncations like ''Rev.'', but not after
contractions like ''Revd'' (in
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
it is used in both cases).
In the
English-speaking world
Speakers of English are also known as Anglophones, and the countries where English is natively spoken by the majority of the population are termed the '' Anglosphere''. Over two billion people speak English , making English the largest languag ...
, a punctuation mark identical to the full stop is used as the
decimal separator and for other purposes, and may be called a point. In computing, it is called a dot.
It is sometimes called a
baseline dot to distinguish it from the
interpunct
An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did n ...
(or middle dot).
History
Ancient Greek origin
The full stop symbol derives from the
Greek punctuation introduced by
Aristophanes of Byzantium
__NOTOC__
Aristophanes of Byzantium ( grc-gre, Ἀριστοφάνης ὁ Βυζάντιος ; BC) was a Hellenistic Greek scholar, critic and grammarian, particularly renowned for his work in Homeric scholarship, but also for work on other ...
in the 3rd century . In his system, there were a series of dots whose placement determined their meaning.
''stigmḕ teleía'', ''stigmḕ mésē'' and ''hypostigmḕ''
The full stop at the end of a completed thought or expression was marked by a high dot ⟨˙⟩, called the ''stigmḕ teleía'' () or "terminal dot". The "middle dot" ⟨·⟩, the ''stigmḕ mésē'' (), marked a division in a thought occasioning a longer breath (essentially a
semicolon
The semicolon or semi-colon is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language, a semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought. When a ...
), while the low dot ⟨.⟩, called the ''hypostigmḕ'' () or "underdot", marked a division in a thought occasioning a shorter breath (essentially a
comma
The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...
).
Medieval simplification
In practice, scribes mostly employed the terminal dot; the others fell out of use and were later replaced by other symbols. From the 9th century onwards, the full stop began appearing as a low mark (instead of a high one), and by the time
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
began in Western Europe, the lower dot was regular and then universal.
Medieval Latin and modern English ''period''
The name ''period'' is first attested (as the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
loanword ) in
Ælfric of Eynsham's
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
treatment on grammar. There, it is distinguished from the full stop (the ), and continues the Greek underdot's earlier function as a comma between phrases.
[''Oxford English Dictionary'', "period, ''n.'', ''adj.'', and ''adv.''" ]Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 2005, It shifted its meaning, to a dot marking a full stop, in the works of the 16th-century grammarians.
In 19th-century texts, both
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...
and
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
were consistent in their usage of the terms ''period'' and ''full stop''.
The word ''period'' was used as a name for what printers often called the "full point", the punctuation mark that was a dot on the baseline and used in several situations. The phrase ''full stop'' was only used to refer to the punctuation mark when it was used to terminate a sentence.
This terminological distinction seems to be eroding. For example, the 1998 edition of ''
Fowler's Modern English Usage'' used ''full point'' for the mark used after an abbreviation, but ''full stop'' or ''full point'' when it was employed at the end of a sentence;
the 2015 edition, however, treats them as synonymous (and prefers ''full stop''),
and ''
New Hart's Rules'' does likewise (but prefers ''full point'').
[ Essentially the same text is found in the previous edition under various titles, including ''New Hart's Rules'', ''Oxford Style Manual'', and ''The Oxford Guide to Style''.] In 1989, the last edition (1989) of the original ''Hart's Rules'' (before it became ''
The Oxford Guide to Style
''Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford''—today published under the short title ''New Hart's Rules''—is an authoritative reference book and style guide published in England by Oxford University Press (O ...
'' in 2002) exclusively used ''full point''.
Usage
Full stops are the most commonly used punctuation marks; analysis of texts indicate that approximately half of all punctuation marks used are full stops.
Ending sentences
Full stops indicate the end of sentences that are not questions or exclamations.
After initials
It is usual in North American English to use full stops after initials; e.g.
A. A. Milne,
George W. Bush.
British usage is less strict.
A few style guides discourage full stops after initials.
However, there is a general trend and initiatives to spell out names in full instead of abbreviating them in order to avoid ambiguity.
Abbreviations
A full stop is used after some
abbreviation
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
s.
If the abbreviation ends a declaratory sentence there is no additional period immediately following the full stop that ends the abbreviation (e.g. "My name is Gabriel Gama, Jr."). Though two full stops (one for the abbreviation, one for the sentence ending) might be expected, conventionally only one is written. This is an intentional omission, and thus not
haplography Haplography (from Greek: haplo- 'single' + -graphy 'writing'), also known as lipography, is a scribal or typographical error where a letter or group of letters that should be written twice is written once. It is not to be confused with haplology, ...
, which is unintentional omission of a duplicate. In the case of an interrogative or exclamatory sentence ending with an abbreviation, a question or exclamation mark can still be added (e.g. "Are you Gabriel Gama Jr.?").
Abbreviations and personal titles of address
According to the ''Oxford A–Z of Grammar and Punctuation'', "If the abbreviation includes both the first and last letter of the abbreviated word, as in 'Mister'
Mr'and 'Doctor'
Dr' a full stop is not used."
This does not include, for example, the standard abbreviations for titles such as ''Professor'' ("Prof.") or ''Reverend'' ("Rev."), because they do not end with the last letter of the word they are abbreviating.
In
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
, the common convention is to include the period after all such abbreviations.
Acronyms and initialisms
In acronyms and
initialisms, the modern style is generally to not use full points after each initial (e.g.: ''DNA'', ''UK'', ''USSR''). The punctuation is somewhat more often used in American English, most commonly with ''U.S.'' and ''U.S.A.'' in particular. However, this depends much upon the house style of a particular writer or publisher. As some examples from American style guides, ''
The Chicago Manual of Style'' (primarily for book and academic-journal publishing) deprecates the use of full points in acronyms, including ''U.S.'', while ''
The Associated Press Stylebook
The ''AP Stylebook'', also known by its full name ''The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law'', is an American English grammar style and usage guide created by American journalists working for or connected with the Associated P ...
'' (primarily for journalism) dispenses with full points in acronyms except for certain two-letter cases, including ''U.S.'', ''U.K.'', and ''
U.N.'', but not ''
EU''.
Mathematics
The period
glyph is used in the presentation of numbers, but in only one of two alternate styles at a time.
In the more prevalent usage in English-speaking countries, the point represents a
decimal separator, visually dividing whole numbers from fractional (decimal) parts. The comma is then used to separate the whole-number parts into groups of three digits each, when numbers are sufficiently large.
* 1.007 (one and seven thousandths)
* 1,002.007 (one thousand two and seven thousandths)
* 1,002,003.007 (one million two thousand three and seven thousandths)
The more prevalent usage in much of Europe, southern Africa, and Latin America (with the exception of Mexico due to the influence of the United States), reverses the roles of the comma and point, but sometimes substitutes a (
thin-)space for a point.
* 1,007 (one and seven thousandths)
* 1.002,007 or 1 002,007 (one thousand two and seven thousandths)
* 1.002.003,007 or 1 002 003,007 (one million two thousand three and seven thousandths)
(To avoid problems with spaces, another convention sometimes used is to use
apostrophe
The apostrophe ( or ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritical mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet and some other alphabets. In English, the apostrophe is used for two basic purposes:
* The marking of the omission of one ...
signs (') instead of spaces.)
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...
,
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...
, and
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
follow the
Indian numbering system
The Indian numbering system is used in all South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan) to express large numbers. The terms ''lakh'' or 1,00,000 (one hundred thousand, written as ''100,00 ...
, which utilizes commas and decimals much like the aforementioned system popular in most English-speaking countries, but separates values of one hundred thousand and above differently, into divisions of ''lakh'' and ''crore'':
*1.007 (one and seven thousandths)
*1,002.007 (one thousand two and seven thousandths)
*10,02,003.007 (one million two thousand three and seven thousandths or ten ''lakh'' two thousand three and seven thousandths)
In countries that use the comma as a decimal separator, the point is sometimes found as a
multiplication
Multiplication (often denoted by the Multiplication sign, cross symbol , by the mid-line #Notation and terminology, dot operator , by juxtaposition, or, on computers, by an asterisk ) is one of the four Elementary arithmetic, elementary Op ...
sign; for example, 5,2 . 2 = 10,4; this usage is impractical in cases where the point is used as a decimal separator, hence the use of the
interpunct
An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did n ...
: 5.2 · 2 = 10.4. This notation is also seen when multiplying units in science; for example, 50 km/h could be written as 50 km·h
−1. However, the point is used in all countries to indicate a
dot product
In mathematics, the dot product or scalar productThe term ''scalar product'' means literally "product with a scalar as a result". It is also used sometimes for other symmetric bilinear forms, for example in a pseudo-Euclidean space. is an alg ...
, i.e. the scalar product of two vectors.
Logic
In older literature on
mathematical logic
Mathematical logic is the study of formal logic within mathematics. Major subareas include model theory, proof theory, set theory, and recursion theory. Research in mathematical logic commonly addresses the mathematical properties of forma ...
, the period glyph used to indicate how expressions should be bracketed (see
Glossary of ''Principia Mathematica'').
Computing
In
computing
Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...
, the full point, usually called a ''dot'' in this context, is often used as a
delimiter, such as in
DNS lookups, Web addresses,
file names and software release versions:
* www.wikipedia.org
* document.txt
* 192.168.0.1
* Chrome 92.0.4515.130
It is used in many
programming languages as an important part of the syntax.
C uses it as a means of accessing a member of a
struct, and this syntax was inherited by
C++ as a means of accessing a member of a
class
Class or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...
or
object
Object may refer to:
General meanings
* Object (philosophy), a thing, being, or concept
** Object (abstract), an object which does not exist at any particular time or place
** Physical object, an identifiable collection of matter
* Goal, an ...
.
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 ...
and
Python also follow this convention.
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 ...
uses it both as a means of accessing a member of a record set (the equivalent of struct in C), a member of an object, and after the ''end'' construct that defines the body of the program. In
APL it is also used for generalised
inner product
In mathematics, an inner product space (or, rarely, a Hausdorff pre-Hilbert space) is a real vector space or a complex vector space with an operation called an inner product. The inner product of two vectors in the space is a scalar, often ...
and
outer product
In linear algebra, the outer product of two coordinate vectors is a matrix. If the two vectors have dimensions ''n'' and ''m'', then their outer product is an ''n'' × ''m'' matrix. More generally, given two tensors (multidimensional arrays of nu ...
. In
Erlang,
Prolog, and
Smalltalk, it marks the end of a statement ("sentence"). In a
regular expression, it represents a match of any character. In
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 ...
and
PHP, the dot is the
string concatenation operator. In the
Haskell standard library, it is the
function composition
In mathematics, function composition is an operation that takes two functions and , and produces a function such that . In this operation, the function is applied to the result of applying the function to . That is, the functions and ...
operator. In
COBOL a full stop ends a statement.
In
file systems, the dot is commonly used to separate the
extension
Extension, extend or extended may refer to:
Mathematics
Logic or set theory
* Axiom of extensionality
* Extensible cardinal
* Extension (model theory)
* Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values that satisfy the predicate
* Ext ...
of a file name from the name of the file.
RISC OS uses dots to separate levels of the hierarchical file system when writing path names—similar to
/
(forward-slash) in
Unix
Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, ...
-based systems and
\
(back-slash) in
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...
-based systems and the
Windows NT
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released on July 27, 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing and multi-user operating system.
The first version of Win ...
systems that succeeded them.
In
Unix-like
A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...
operating systems, some applications treat files or directories that start with a dot as
hidden. This means that they are not displayed or listed to the user by default.
In Unix-like systems and
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
, the dot character represents the
working directory of the file system. Two dots (
..
) represent the
parent directory of the working directory.
Bourne shell-derived command-line interpreters, such as
sh,
ksh, and
bash
Bash or BASH may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Bash!'' (Rockapella album), 1992
* ''Bash!'' (Dave Bailey album), 1961
* '' Bash: Latter-Day Plays'', a dramatic triptych
* ''BASH!'' (role-playing game), a 2005 superhero game
* "Bash" ('' ...
, use the dot as a command to
read a file and execute its content in the running interpreter. (Some of these also offer ''source'' as a synonym, based on that usage in the C-shell.)
Versions of software are often denoted with the style ''x.y.z'' (or more), where ''x'' is a major release, ''y'' is a mid-cycle enhancement release and ''z'' is a
patch
Patch or Patches may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media
* Patch Johnson, a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives''
* Patch (''My Little Pony''), a toy
* "Patches" (Dickey Lee song), 1962
* "Patches" (Chairmen of the Board song ...
level designation, but actual usage is entirely vendor specific.
Telegraphy
The term ''STOP'' was used in
telegrams
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
in place of the full stop. The end of a sentence would be marked by ''STOP''; its use "in telegraphic communications was greatly increased during the World War, when the Government employed it widely as a precaution against having messages garbled or misunderstood, as a result of the misplacement or emission of the tiny dot or period."
In conversation
In British English, the words "full stop" at the end of an utterance strengthen it; they indicate that it admits of no discussion: "I'm not going with you, full stop." In American English the word "period" serves this function.
Another common use in
African-American Vernacular English is found in the phrase "And that's on period" which is used to express the strength of the speaker's previous statement, usually to emphasise an opinion.
Linguistics
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 ...
uses the full stop to signify a syllable break.
Time
In British English, whether for the
12-hour clock or sometimes its
24-hour counterpart, the dot is commonly used and some style guides recommend it when telling time, including those from non-
BBC public broadcasters in the UK, the academic manual published by
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
under various titles, as well as the internal
house style book for the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, and that of ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'', ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' and ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...
'' newspapers. American and Canadian English mostly prefers and uses colons (:) (i.e., 11:15 PM/pm/p.m. or 23:15 for AmE/CanE and 11.15 pm or 23.15 for BrE), so does the BBC, but only with 24-hour times, according to its news style guide as updated in August 2020. The point as a time separator is also used in Irish English, particularly by the
Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), and to a lesser extent in Australian, Cypriot, Maltese, New Zealand, South African and other Commonwealth English varieties outside Canada.
Punctuation styles when quoting
The practice in the United States and Canada is to place full stops and commas inside quotation marks in most styles.
In the British system, which is also called "logical quotation",
full stops and commas are placed according to grammatical sense:
This means that when they are part of the quoted material, they should be placed inside, and otherwise should be outside. For example, they are placed outside in the cases of words-as-words, titles of short-form works, and quoted sentence fragments.
* Bruce Springsteen, nicknamed "the Boss," performed "American Skin." (closed or American style)
* Bruce Springsteen, nicknamed "the Boss", performed "American Skin". (logical or British style)
* He said, "I love music." (both)
There is some national crossover. American style is common in British fiction writing.
British style is sometimes used in American English. For example, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends it for fields where comma placement could affect the meaning of the quoted material, such as linguistics and textual criticism.
Use of placement according to logical or grammatical sense, or "logical convention", now the more common practice in regions other than North America, was advocated in the influential book ''
The King's English'' by Fowler and Fowler, published in 1906. Prior to the influence of this work, the typesetter's or printer's style, or "closed convention", now also called American style, was common throughout the world.
Spacing after a full stop
There have been a number of practices relating to the spacing after a full stop. Some examples are listed below:
* One word space ("
French spacing
The history of sentence spacing is the evolution of sentence spacing conventions from the introduction of movable type in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg to the present day.
Typesetting in all European languages enjoys a long tradition of using spac ...
"). This is the current convention in most countries that use the
ISO basic Latin alphabet
The ISO basic Latin alphabet is an international standard (beginning with ISO/IEC 646) for a Latin-script alphabet that consists of two sets ( uppercase and lowercase) of 26 letters, codified in various national and international standards and ...
for published and final written work, as well as digital media.
* Two word spaces ("
English spacing"). It is sometimes claimed that the two-space convention stems from the use of the
monospaced font
A monospaced font, also called a fixed-pitch, fixed-width, or non-proportional font, is a font whose letters and characters each occupy the same amount of horizontal space. This contrasts with variable-width fonts, where the letters and spaci ...
on
typewriters, but in fact that convention replicates much earlier typography — the intent was to provide a clear break between sentences. This spacing method was gradually replaced by the single space convention in published print, where space is at a premium, and continues in much digital media.
* One widened space (such as an
em space). This spacing was seen in
historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
typesetting practices (until the early 20th century). It has also been used in other typesetting systems such as the
Linotype machine and the
TeX system. Modern computer-based digital fonts can adjust the spacing after terminal punctuation as well, creating a space slightly wider than a standard word space.
Full stops in other scripts
Greek
Although the present Greek full stop (, ''teleía'') is
romanized
Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
as a Latin full stop
[ 'Ellīnikós_Organismós_Typopoíīsīs'',_"Hellenic_Organization_for_Standardization".html" ;"title="Hellenic Organization for Standardization">'Ellīnikós Organismós Typopoíīsīs'', "Hellenic Organization for Standardization"">Hellenic Organization for Standardization">'Ellīnikós Organismós Typopoíīsīs'', "Hellenic Organization for Standardization" [''ELOT 743, 2ī Ekdosī'', "ELOT 743, "]. ELOT (Athens), 2001. .] and encoded identically with the full stop in
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, ...
,
[Nicolas, Nick.]
Greek Unicode Issues: Punctuation
". 2005. Accessed 7 Oct 2014. the historic full stop in Greek was a ''high'' dot and the ''low'' dot functioned as a kind of
comma
The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark () in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline ...
,
as noted above. The low dot was increasingly but irregularly used to mark full stops after the 9th century and was fully adapted after the advent of print.
The teleia should also be distinguished from the
ano teleia mark, which is named "''high'' stop" but looks like an
interpunct
An interpunct , also known as an interpoint, middle dot, middot and centered dot or centred dot, is a punctuation mark consisting of a vertically centered dot used for interword separation in ancient Latin script. (Word-separating spaces did n ...
(a ''middle'' dot) and principally functions as the Greek
semicolon
The semicolon or semi-colon is a symbol commonly used as orthographic punctuation. In the English language, a semicolon is most commonly used to link (in a single sentence) two independent clauses that are closely related in thought. When a ...
.
Armenian
The
Armenian script uses the ։ (, ). It looks similar to the
colon (:).
Chinese and Japanese
In
Simplified Chinese
Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to:
Mathematics
Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example
* Simplification of algebraic expressions ...
and Japanese, a small circle is used instead of a solid dot: "。︀" (U+3002 "
Ideographic Full Stop").
Traditional Chinese uses the same symbol centered in the line rather than aligned to the baseline.
Korean
Korean uses the Latin full stop along with
its native script.
Brahmic scripts
Nagari
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, P ...
predominantly use
Nagari-based scripts. In the
Devanagari script used to write languages like
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
,
Maithili,
Nepali
Nepali or Nepalese may refer to :
Concerning Nepal
* Anything of, from, or related to Nepal
* Nepali people, citizens of Nepal
* Nepali language, an Indo-Aryan language found in Nepal, the current official national language and a language spoken ...
, etc., a vertical line (U+0964 "Devanagari Danda") is used to mark the end of a sentence. It is known as (full stop). In
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
, an additional symbol (U+0965 "Devanagari Double Danda") is used to mark the end of a poetic verse. However, some languages that are written in Devanagari use the Latin full stop, such as
Marathi.
In the
Eastern Nagari script used to write languages like
Bangla
Bangla (Bengali: বাংলা) may refer to:
*Bengali language, an eastern Indo-Aryan language
*The endonym of Bengal, a geographical and ethno-linguistic region in South Asia
*''Bangla-'', a prefix indicating Bangladesh
Businesses and organ ...
and
Assamese, the same vertical line ("।") is used for full-stop, known as in Bengali. Also, languages like
Odia
Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to:
* Odia people in Odisha, India
* Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family
* Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...
and
Panjabi (which respectively use
Oriya and
Gurmukhi
Gurmukhī ( pa, ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ, , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). It is used by Punjabi Sikhs to write the language, commonly ...
scripts) use the same symbol.
Inspired from
Indic scripts
The Brahmic scripts, also known as Indic scripts, are a family of abugida writing systems. They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia. They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India ...
, the
Santali language
Santali (, Ol Chiki: ), Bengali: , Odia: , Devanagari: , also known as Santal, is the most widely spoken language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho and Mundari, spoken mainly in the Indian states of Assa ...
also uses a similar symbol in
Ol Chiki script: (U+1C7E "Ol Chiki Punctuation Mucaad") to mark the end of sentence. Similarly, it also uses (U+1C7F "Ol Chiki Punctuation Double Mucaad") to indicate a major break, like end of section, although rarely used.
Sinhalese
In
Sinhala, a symbol called ''kundaliya'': "෴" (U+0DF4 "Sinhala Punctuation Kunddaliya") was used before the colonial era. Periods were later introduced into
Sinhalese script after the introduction of paper due to the influence of European languages.
Southeast Asian
In
Burmese script
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (horse), ...
, the symbol (U+104B "Myanmar Sign Section") is used as full stop.
However, in
Thai, no symbol corresponding to the full stop is used as ''
terminal punctuation''. A sentence is written without spaces and a space is typically used to mark the end of a clause or sentence.
Tibetic
The
Tibetan script
The Tibetan script is a segmental writing system (''abugida'') of Indic origin used to write certain Tibetic languages, including Tibetan, Dzongkha, Sikkimese, Ladakhi, Jirel and Balti. It has also been used for some non-Tibetic language ...
uses two different full-stops: ''tshig-grub'' (U+0F0D "Tibetan Mark Shad") marks end of a section of text; ''don-tshan'' (U+0F0E "Tibetan Mark Nyis Shad") marks end of a whole topic. The descendants of Tibetic script also use similar symbols: For example, the
Róng script of
Lepcha language uses (U+1C3B "Lepcha Punctuation Ta-Rol") and (U+1C3C "Lepcha Punctuation Nyet Thyoom Ta-Rol").
However, due to influence of
Burmese script
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (horse), ...
, the
Meitei script of
Manipuri language
Meitei (), also known as Manipuri (, ), is a Tibeto-Burman language of north-eastern India. It is spoken by around 1.8 million people, predominantly in the state of Manipur, but also by smaller communities in the rest of the country and in ...
uses (U+AAF0 "Meetei Mayek Cheikhan") for comma and (U+ABEB "Meetei Mayek Cheikhei") to mark the end of sentence.
Shahmukhi
For
Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily concentrated in India, P ...
which are written in
Nastaliq, like
Kashmiri Kashmiri may refer to:
* People or things related to the Kashmir Valley or the broader region of Kashmir
* Kashmiris, an ethnic group native to the Kashmir Valley
* Kashmiri language, their language
People with the name
* Kashmiri Saikia Baruah ...
,
Panjabi,
Saraiki and
, a symbol called () is used as a full stop at the end of sentences and in abbreviations. It () looks similar to a lowered
dash
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
().
Ge'ez
In the
Ge'ez script used to write
Amharic
Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
and several other Ethiopian and Eritrean languages, the equivalent of the full stop following a sentence is the "።"—which means ''four dots''. The two dots on the right are slightly ascending from the two on the left, with space in between.
Encodings
The character is encoded by
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, ...
at .
There is also , used in several
shorthand
Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''s ...
(stenography) systems.
The character is
full-width encoded at . This form is used alongside
CJK characters
In internationalization, CJK characters is a collective term for the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean languages, all of which include Chinese characters and derivatives in their writing systems, sometimes paired with other scripts. Collectively, ...
.
In text messages
Researchers from
Binghamton University
The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the Stat ...
performed a small study, published in 2016, on young adults and found that text messages that included sentences ended with full stops—as opposed to those with no terminal punctuation—were perceived as insincere, though they stipulated that their results apply only to this particular medium of communication: "Our sense was, is that because
ext messageswere informal and had a chatty kind of feeling to them, that a period may have seemed stuffy, too formal, in that context," said head researcher Cecelia Klin.
The study did not find handwritten notes to be affected.
A 2016 story by Jeff Guo in ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'', stated that the line break had become the default method of punctuation in texting, comparable to the use of line breaks in poetry, and that a period at the end of a sentence causes the tone of the message to be perceived as cold, angry or
passive-aggressive
Passive-aggressive behavior is characterized by a pattern of passive hostility and an avoidance of direct communication. Inaction where some action is socially customary is a typical passive-aggressive strategy (showing up late for functions, st ...
.
According to Gretchen McCulloch, an internet linguist, using a full stop to end messages is seen as "rude" by more and more people. She said this can be attributed to the way we text and use instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. She added that the default way to break up one's thoughts is to send each thought as an individual message.
See also
*
*
*
*
References
{{Authority control
Punctuation
Ancient Greek punctuation