Word.ws English Dictionary

inverted comma

inverted comma noun: a type of paired quotation mark: ‘ or “ (beginning the quoted material) and ’ or ” (ending it).

inverted comma: a type of paired quotation mark: ‘ or “ (beginning the quoted material) and ’ or ” (ending it)
Image: Euclid, F. Claud. Francis Milliet de Chales, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

inverted comma (plural inverted commas)

  1. (Commonwealth, plural-normally) A type of paired quotation mark: ‘ or “ (beginning the quoted material) and ’ or ” (ending it).
    • The paſſage quoted in the text is at the latter part of the following letter, and is put between inverted commas.1789, Frederick II, King of Prussia, Correspondence. Letters between Frederic II. and M. de Voltaire. Translated from the French by Thomas Holcroft. 1789: Vol 8
    • Some of the papers, with questionable taste, present Mrs. [Alice Roosevelt] Longworth to their readers as the American “Princess.” There is nothing in her ways, bearing, or appearance to warrant the epithet which I give, as printed, in inverted commas.1906 July 11, Truth: A Weekly Journal, volume LX, number 1541, London: “Truth” Buildings, […], published 1907, page 88, column 1
    Synonyms:
    quotation mark

inverted comma meaning in Tamil, Urdu and Kannada

inverted comma in Tamil

தலைகீழ் காற்புள்ளி

inverted comma in Urdu

واوین

inverted comma in Kannada

ಉದ್ಧರಣ ಚಿಹ್ನೆ

Synonyms of inverted comma

Forms of inverted comma

pluralinverted commas

Origin of inverted comma

From the appearance of an inverted comma. In lead type, an opening quote is not a separate casting. It is the result of rotating a comma 180°, inverting the comma. It is used singly or as double quotes. Similarly, the closing quotation mark is the apostrophe. Also used singly or as double quotes.

Questions about inverted comma

What does inverted comma mean?
Inverted comma means a type of paired quotation mark: ‘ or “ (beginning the quoted material) and ’ or ” (ending it).
What is inverted comma in Tamil?
Inverted comma in Tamil is தலைகீழ் காற்புள்ளி. See Inverted comma meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is inverted comma?
Inverted comma is a noun.
What is the plural of inverted comma?
The plural of inverted comma is inverted commas.

Words near inverted comma in the dictionary

  1. inverted breves
  2. inverted caret
  3. inverted carets
  4. inverted circumflex
  5. inverted circumflexes
  6. inverted comma
  7. inverted commas
  8. inverted exclamation mark
  9. inverted exclamation marks
  10. inverted exclamation point
  11. inverted exclamation points

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inverted comma (page history and authors); inverted comma (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inverted comma (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); inverted comma (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.

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