Word.ws English Dictionary

guillemet

/ˌɡiˈmeɪ/

guillemet noun: either of the punctuation marks « or » (or ‹ or ›), used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language, such as “ and ”.

guillemet: a close up of a sign with numbers on it
Photo by Michael Tutino on Unsplash

Noun

guillemet (plural guillemets)

  1. Either of the punctuation marks « or » (or ‹ or ›), used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language, such as “ and ”.
    • Guillemets, however, proved popular and remain the key method of indicating quotations in French, Arabic, Italian, Greek and many other languages.2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 49

guillemet meaning in Arabic

guillemet in Arabic

either of the punctuation marks « or »
عَلَامَات تَنْصِيص ʕalāmāt tanṣīṣ, عَلَامَات اِقْتِبَاس ʕalāmāt iqtibās

Synonyms of guillemet

Forms of guillemet

pluralguillemets

Origin of guillemet

From French guillemet, diminutive form of the name Guillaume (“William”), named after French typecutter Guillaume Le Bé (1525–1598) who supposedly invented the marks.

Questions about guillemet

What does guillemet mean?
Guillemet means either of the punctuation marks « or » (or ‹ or ›), used in several languages to indicate passages of speech. Similar to typical quotation marks used in the English language, such as “ and ”.
What is guillemet in Arabic?
Guillemet in Arabic is عَلَامَات تَنْصِيص (ʕalāmāt tanṣīṣ), عَلَامَات اِقْتِبَاس (ʕalāmāt iqtibās). See Guillemet meaning in Arabic.
What part of speech is guillemet?
Guillemet is a noun.
How do you pronounce guillemet?
Guillemet is pronounced /ˌɡiˈmeɪ/.
What is the plural of guillemet?
The plural of guillemet is guillemets.

Words near guillemet in the dictionary

  1. Guillain-Barré syndrome
  2. Guillard
  3. Guillaume
  4. Guillelmite
  5. Guillelmites
  6. guillemet
  7. guillemets
  8. Guillemin
  9. guilleminite
  10. Guillemins
  11. guillemot

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: guillemet (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-guillemet.wav.

Cite this entry: “guillemet.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/guillemet. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.