ampersand
UK/ˈæm.pə(ɹ).sænd/
ampersand noun: the symbol "&".
Noun
ampersand (plural ampersands)
- The symbol "&".
- The ampersand character in many logics acts as an operator connecting two propositions.
- The Letter commonly called Ipse and and ampuse and viz &. is a corruption of a per se and: spoken very quick; they used formerly it seems to put a single Greek α, for a contraction of and, & so this was a per se and.[1777 August–September, Hester Lynch Thrale, edited by Katharine C[anby] Balderston, Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale (Later Mrs. Piozzi) 1776–1809, volume I (1776–1784), Oxford...
- Synonyms:
- epershand
Verb
ampersand (third-person singular simple present ampersands, present participle ampersanding, simple past and past participle ampersanded)
- To add an ampersand to.
ampersand meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Arabic
ampersand in Hindi
- the symbol &
- ऐंपरसैंड a͠iparsaiṇḍ
ampersand in Tamil
- உம்மைக்குறி
ampersand in Kannada
- ಮತ್ತು ಚಿಹ್ನೆ
ampersand in Arabic
- the symbol &
- وَاو اَللَّاتِينِيَّة wāw al-lātīniyya
More languagesFewer languages
- ampersand in Indonesian
- tanda dan, ampersan
Synonyms of ampersand
Forms of ampersand
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ampersands |
| alternative form (obsolete) | amperzand |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ampersands |
| present participle | ampersanding |
| past participle | ampersanded |
| past | ampersanded |
Origin of ampersand
A mondegreen of and per se and, ⟨&⟩ being read as “and”. Letters used by themselves were formerly mentioned according to this pattern, as in “O per se O” for the particle O or “I per se I” for the pronoun I. “And per se and” thus meant ⟨&⟩ by itself, as opposed to forms such as &c. The specific form ampersand is first attested in 1795, originally as a mocking pronunciation spelling, but this name for the symbol is attested since 1777 (as ampuse and), when it is already called common (see quotations).
Words formed from ampersand
Questions about ampersand
- What does ampersand mean?
- Ampersand means the symbol "&".
- What is ampersand in Hindi?
- Ampersand in Hindi is ऐंपरसैंड (a͠iparsaiṇḍ). See Ampersand meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is ampersand?
- Ampersand can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ampersand?
- Ampersand is pronounced /ˈæm.pə(ɹ).sænd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of ampersand?
- The plural of ampersand is ampersands.
Words near ampersand in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ampersand (page history and authors); ampersand (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ampersand (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ampersand.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ampersand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ampersand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.