Ditto mark
Encyclopedia
The ditto mark is a typographic
symbol indicating that the word(s) or figure(s) above it are to be repeated. For example:
It has Unicode
code-point
U+3003 (in the Asian character set), though in practice closing double quotation mark
s (”) or straight double quotation marks (") are often used instead. The abbreviation do. is also used.
The word ditto comes from the Tuscan language, where it is the past participle of the verb dire (to say), with the meaning of “said”, as in the locution “the said story”. The first recorded use of ditto with this meaning in English occurs in 1625. Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the Neo-Assyrian period (934 – 608 BC) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text, while in China the corresponding mark is two horizontal lines (二); see iteration mark
.
In legal documents, the use of ditto marks, the abbreviation do. or the word “ditto” is often forbidden by law or regulations.
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
symbol indicating that the word(s) or figure(s) above it are to be repeated. For example:
- Black pens, box of twenty ..... £2.10
Blue 〃 〃 〃 〃 ..... £2.10
It has Unicode
Unicode
Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
code-point
Universal Character Set
The Universal Character Set , defined by the International Standard ISO/IEC 10646, Information technology — Universal multiple-octet coded character set , is a standard set of characters upon which many character encodings are based...
U+3003 (in the Asian character set), though in practice closing double quotation mark
Quotation mark
Quotation marks or inverted commas are punctuation marks at the beginning and end of a quotation, direct speech, literal title or name. Quotation marks can also be used to indicate a different meaning of a word or phrase than the one typically associated with it and are often used to express irony...
s (”) or straight double quotation marks (") are often used instead. The abbreviation do. is also used.
The word ditto comes from the Tuscan language, where it is the past participle of the verb dire (to say), with the meaning of “said”, as in the locution “the said story”. The first recorded use of ditto with this meaning in English occurs in 1625. Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the Neo-Assyrian period (934 – 608 BC) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text, while in China the corresponding mark is two horizontal lines (二); see iteration mark
Iteration mark
Iteration marks are characters or punctuation marks that represent a duplicated character or word.-Chinese:In Chinese, 二 or 々 is used in casual writing to represent a doubled character, but it is never used in formal writing or printed matter...
.
In legal documents, the use of ditto marks, the abbreviation do. or the word “ditto” is often forbidden by law or regulations.