obelus

American  

[ob-uh-luhs] / ˈɒb ə ləs /

noun

obeli plural

1. a mark (− or ÷) used in ancient manuscripts to point out spurious, corrupt, doubtful, or superfluous words or passages.

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obelus British  

/ ˈɒbɪləs /

noun

1. a mark (— or ÷) used in editions of ancient documents to indicate spurious words or passages

2. another name for dagger

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• obeli
  plural

Etymology

Origin of obelus

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin < Greek obelós spit, pointed pillar

Explanation

In math, an obelus is a symbol that means "divided by," while in an ancient text it's an editorial mark on a line or word that is incorrect or doubtful. An obelus typically looks like this: ÷, a horizontal line with dots above and below. It's familiar to anyone who's done arithmetic problems such as 12÷3=X. The original obelus conveyed "remove or cut this" in a text, with just a line symbolizing a dart or dagger. The two dots appeared later, as did a dagger-shaped version that's often added beside a person's name to mean "deceased." The word itself has a Greek root meaning "sharpened stick."