The caret () is a V-shaped

grapheme In linguistics, a grapheme is the smallest functional unit of a writing system. The word ''grapheme'' is derived from Ancient Greek ('write'), and the suffix ''-eme'' by analogy with ''phoneme'' and other emic units. The study of graphemes ...

, usually inverted and sometimes extended, used in

proofreading Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place corr ...

and

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

to indicate that additional material needs to be inserted at the point indicated in the text. The same symbol is also used as a diacritical mark modifying another character (as in ), for which purpose it is known as a

circumflex The circumflex () is a diacritic in the Latin and Greek scripts that is also used in the written forms of many languages and in various romanization and transcription schemes. It received its English name from "bent around"a translation of ...

Usage

The caret was originally and continues to be used in handwritten form as a

mark to indicate where a punctuation mark, word, or phrase should be inserted into a document. The term comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word , "it lacks", from , "to lack; to be separated from; to be free from". The caret symbol can be written just below the line of text for a punctuation mark at low line position, such as a

comma The comma is a punctuation mark that appears in several variants in different languages. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight, but inclined from the vertical; others give it the appearance of a miniature fille ...

, or just above the line of text as an inverted caret () for a character at a higher line position, such as an

apostrophe The apostrophe (, ) 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 o ...

, or in either position to indicate insertion of a letter, word or phrase; the material to be inserted may be placed inside the caret, in the margin, or above the line. File:Image of carets telling reader to insert a comma, an apostrophe, and quotation marks.png, Carets telling reader to insert a comma, an apostrophe, and quotation marks. File:Image of caret telling a reader to insert a letter.png, Caret telling a reader to insert a letter. File:Image of caret telling reader to insert a word.png, Caret telling reader to insert a word. File:Image of caret telling reader to change a word.png, Caret telling reader to change a word.

References

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