Wiktionary

apostrophe

See also: Apostrophe and apostrophé

English

edit
WOTD – 13 February 2007

Pronunciation

edit

Etymology 1

edit

From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

Alternative forms

edit

Noun

edit

apostrophe (plural apostrophes)

  2. (orthography) The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.
    • 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 30:
      Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation.
Usage notes
edit
  • In English, the apostrophe is used to mark the possessive (e.g., “my friend’s wife”), and to show the omission of letters (e.g., “my friend’s angry”) or of numbers (e.g., "during the 1960s and ’70s").
Derived terms
edit
Translations
edit
See also
edit

Punctuation

Etymology 2

edit

From Latin apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “I turn”).

Noun

edit

apostrophe (countable and uncountable, plural apostrophes)

  2. (rhetoric) A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.
    • [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 28:
      Apostrophe a bold digression makes,
      Mov'd by some sudden thought the theme awakes.      ]
    • 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 139:
      The warm apostrophe of Riccardini to this little representative of his parents, whom he called "the son of his love, the child of his old age, the gift of his beloved niece, on the behalf of his angel-daughter," affected them all;...
Derived terms
edit
edit
Translations
edit

Etymology 3

edit

Noun

edit

apostrophe

  1. (botany) An arrangement of chlorophyll grains perpendicular to the outer surface of plant cells, as opposed to epistrophe (an arrangement on the outer surface).
    • 1905 September 8, Harold Wager, “On Some Problems of Cell Structure and Physiology”, in English Mechanics and the World of Science, volume 82, number 2111, page 105:
      As is well known, chloroplast in the epistrophe position presents an oval or more or less circular form; in the apostrophe position a flattened and lenticular form.

Anagrams

edit

French

edit

Pronunciation

edit

Etymology 1

edit

From Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”).

Noun

edit

apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)

  1. (orthography) apostrophe
Descendants
edit

Etymology 2

edit

Borrowed from Latin apostropha, apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

Noun

edit

apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)

  1. (rhetoric) apostrophe
  2. (grammar) A vocative expression
edit

Etymology 3

edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

edit

apostrophe

  1. inflection of apostropher:
    1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

edit

Latin

edit

Etymology

edit

From Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ, literally “a turning away”), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”).

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

apostrophē f (genitive apostrophēs); first declension

  1. Alternative form of apostropha

Declension

edit

First-declension noun (Greek-type).

singular plural
nominative apostrophē apostrophae
genitive apostrophēs apostrophārum
dative apostrophae apostrophīs
accusative apostrophēn apostrophās
ablative apostrophē apostrophīs
vocative apostrophē apostrophae

References

edit
  • “apostrophe”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • apostrophe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=apostrophe&oldid=84623323"