virgule

American  

[vur-gyool] / ˈvɜr gyul /

noun

1. 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.

2. 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)

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

---

virgule British  

/ ˈvɜːɡjuːl /

noun

1. printing another name for solidus

---

Etymology

Origin of virgule

First recorded in 1830–40; from French virgule “comma, little rod,” from Latin virgula; virgulate

Explanation

A virgule is a forward slash, a punctuation mark that is sometimes used to separate lines of poetry or songs when quoting them in a sentence. Derived from Latin meaning "a little twig," a virgule has many uses. You can use virgules to separate the month, day, and year in a date, e.g., 12/22/1986. Virgules are often inserted between alternative words, as in "he/she" or "if/when." A virgule is used to mean "per," as in "miles/gallon." Virgules are also used in math, sometimes to indicate division or to separate the parts of a fraction (e.g., ¾). In this quote from an Edgar Allen Poe verse, a virgule separates the lines: "Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?"

Example Sentences

“The comma doesn’t seem to come from the diple but from the virgule, the slash,” Houston said.

From Washington Post • Feb. 13, 2022

Toward the climactic end of the book, Lerner discusses a typographic mark called a virgule, the slash that appears in prose to represent poetic line breaks.

From Slate • Jul. 8, 2016

They lowered the virgule and curved it, for a start, so that it began to look like the modern comma.

From "Eats, Shoots & Leaves" by Author

It was impracticable to reproduce the original punctuation, which mainly consisted of the virgule or slash.

From Disguising at Hertford by Lydgate, John

"Comment dit-on point et virgule en Anglais, monsieur?"

From The Professor by Brontë, Charlotte