interpunct meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

interpunct

noun

Etymology From Latin interpunctus, from inter- (“between, mid-”) + punctus (“point”).

Media, Publishing, Typography The punctuation mark ⟨·⟩.

As is to be expected in every good inscription of the period, the interpunct is used regularly and systematically throughout to divide words from one another. As is usual, the interpunct is frequently omitted between a monosyllabic preposition and the noun that it governs, thus presumably indicating that the preposition was treated as a proclitic. [...] I feel certain that the interpunct used within compound verbs on the Ancyran text does not differ in any way from the interpunct normally used between words ; [...].1972, E. Otha Wingo, Latin punctuation in the classical age, Mouton, page 32:
An interpunct is a typographic glyph consisting of a vertically centered dot and used to indicate syllabic separation of words. Also called interpoint, middle dot or raised dot.2017, Richard Poulin, Design school type : a practical guide for students and designers, Rockport Publishers, page 152:

verb

Etymology From Latin interpunctus, from inter- (“between, mid-”) + punctus (“point”).

To place points between clauses, words or some letters.

The three brass jetons (Nos. 5-7) are all of the early anonymous ‘orb/rose’ types minted between 1550 and 1585. They all bear meaningless legends interpuncted with rosettes and dots, signifying the initials of the jeton-master who produced them.2002, Robert Kool, Donald T. Ariel, ’Atiqot, volume 43:
Look, at its heart WALL·E is, I suppose, a love story, and it’s not as if the eco-message is insultingly hammered home as it was, say, in Happy Feet. Much of the film is wonderfully imagined, and there is something utterly winning about this tin can topped with binoculars. (I cried; twice). Kiddies will see it, I know, so obviously it can’t be too dystopian, although, come on, every meal as a milkshake? YIPP·E! The film goes so far, but ultimately doesn’t see it through. Is it worth seeing? Yes, probably. It’s just a shame that, at the end, it trips itself up with its own SENTIMENTALIT·E. (I don’t know about you, but I find that once I start interpuncting I just cannot stop.)2008 July 19, Deborah Ross, “Dystopian love STOR.E”, in The Spectator:

Related terms: 26 terms
interpunction, interpuncting, apostrophe, curly brackets, brace, square bracket, bracket, colon, comma, dash, ellipsis, exclamation mark, fraction slash, guillemet, hyphen, interrobang, parentheses (US, Canada), full stop, period, question mark, quotation marks, semicolon, slash, stroke, space