virgule

[vur-gyool]

noun

a short oblique stroke (/) between two words indicating that whichever is appropriate may be chosen to complete the sense of the text in which they occur: The defendant and his/her attorney must appear in court.

a dividing line, as in dates, fractions, a run-in passage of poetry to show verse division, etc.: 3/21/27; “Sweetest love, I do not go/For weariness of thee.” (John Donne)

a short oblique stroke (/) used in computing; a forward slash.

Origin of virgule

1830–40; < French virgule comma, little rod < Latin virgula; see virgulate

Also called diagonal, separatrix, shilling mark, slant, slash, solidus; especially British stroke.

Can be confusedbackslash forward slash virgule

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for virgule

Contemporary Examples of virgule

He may be known for the Virgule, but the feeling of his new exhibition more closely resembles an exclamation mark.
Shoes Fit For A Museum: Roger Vivier’s Virigule Show Opens at Palais De Tokyo
Sarah Moroz
October 2, 2013

Historical Examples of virgule

He wore the tuft of beard called a virgule (a comma) and a moustache.
The Works of Honor de Balzac
Honor de Balzac
It was impracticable to reproduce the original punctuation, which mainly consisted of the virgule or slash.
The Disguising at Hertford
John Lydgate
His beard was trimmed to a moustache and virgule (now called imperial) and he carried a sword at his side and a cane in his hand.
Catherine de' Medici
Honore de Balzac
Virgule, vėr′gūl, n. a little rod: a mark of punctuation, a comma.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements)
Various

British Dictionary definitions for virgule

virgule

noun

printing another name for solidus

Word Origin for virgule

C19: from French: comma, from Latin virgula a little rod, from virga rod

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for virgule

thin sloping line, used as a comma in medieval MSS, 1837, from French virgule, from Latin virgula "punctuation mark," literally "little twig," diminutive of virga "shoot, rod, stick." The word had been borrowed in its Latin form in 1728.