ampersand

American  

[am-per-sand, am-per-sand] / ˈæm pərˌsænd, ˌæm pərˈsænd /

noun

1. a character or symbol (& or ) for and .

   Smith & Jones, Inc.

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ampersand British  

/ ˈæmpəˌsænd /

noun

1. the character (&), meaning and

   John Brown & Co

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ampersand Cultural  

1. A symbol (see also symbol) for and (&), as in Dun & Bradstreet.

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Etymology

Origin of ampersand

1820–30; contraction of and per se and literally, (the symbol) & by itself (stands for) and; see per se

Explanation

An ampersand is a shorthand symbol for "and." It looks like this: & . People often use an ampersand when they want to save space — like when they're writing on Twitter or trying to come up with a cool company logo. The symbol comes from ancient Roman times and can be seen in really old Pompeiian graffiti. The word ampersand is a mix of Latin and English and a condensed version of the phrase "and per se and," which means "(the character) '&' by itself is 'and'."