# apostrophe
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (US) IPA: /əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Etymology 1

From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

#### Alternative forms

* apostrophë, apostrophy

#### Noun

apostrophe (plural apostrophes)
* (orthography) The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.
** 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 30:Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation.

##### Usage notes

* In English, the apostrophe is used to mark the possessive (e.g., “my friend’s wife”), and to show the omission of letters (e.g., “my friend’s angry”) or of numbers (e.g., "during the 1960s and ’70s").

##### Derived terms

* apologetic apostrophe
* apostrophectomy
* apostrophed
* apostropheless
* apostrophise
* curly apostrophe
* greengrocers' apostrophe
* greengrocer's apostrophe
* printer's apostrophe
* straight apostrophe
* typewriter apostrophe
* typographical apostrophe
* typographic apostrophe
* vertical apostrophe

##### See also

* apostrophe on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Punctuation
* apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
* curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
* square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
* colon ( : )
* comma ( , )
* dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
* ellipsis ( … )
* exclamation mark ( ! )
* fraction slash ( ⁄ )
* guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
* hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
* interpunct ( · )
* interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
* brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
* full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
* question mark ( ? )
* quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
* quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
* semicolon ( ; )
* slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
* space ( ] [ )

### Etymology 2

From Latin apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “I turn”).

#### Noun

apostrophe (countable and uncountable, plural apostrophes)
* (rhetoric) A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.
** [1835, L[arret] Langley, A Manual of the Figures of Rhetoric, […], Doncaster: Printed by C. White, Baxter-Gate, →OCLC, page 28:Apostrophe a bold digression makes, Mov'd by some sudden thought the theme awakes.]
** 1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 139:The warm apostrophe of Riccardini to this little representative of his parents, whom he called "the son of his love, the child of his old age, the gift of his beloved niece, on the behalf of his angel-daughter," affected them all;...

##### Derived terms

* apostrophic, apostrophically
* apostrophize

##### Related terms

* catastrophe

##### Translations
### Etymology 3
#### Noun

apostrophe
* (botany) An arrangement of chlorophyll grains perpendicular to the outer surface of plant cells, as opposed to epostrophe (an arrangement on the outer surface).
** 1905 September 8, Harold Wager, “On Some Problems of Cell Structure and Physiology”, in English Mechanics and the World of Science, volume 82, number 2111, page 105:As is well known, chloroplast in the epistrophe position presents an oval or more or less circular form; in the apostrophe position a flattened and lenticular form.

### Anagrams

* protophase

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.pɔs.tʁɔf/
* Homophones: apostrophent, apostrophes
* Audio:(file)

### Etymology 1

From Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”).

#### Noun

apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)
* (orthography) apostrophe

##### Descendants

* → English: apostrophe
* → Romanian: apostrof
* → Russian: апо́строф (apóstrof)
** → Azerbaijani: apostrof
* → Persian: آپاستروف (âpâstruf)
* → Turkish: apostrof

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin apostropha, apostrophe, from Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), from ἀπό (apó) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).

#### Noun

apostrophe f (plural apostrophes)
* (rhetoric) apostrophe

##### Related terms

* apostropher

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Verb

apostrophe
* inflection of apostropher:
** first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
** second-person singular imperative

### Further reading

* “apostrophe”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἀποστροφή (apostrophḗ, literally “a turning away”), from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “I turn away”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /aˈpos.tro.pʰeː/, [äˈpɔs̠t̪rɔpʰeː]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /aˈpos.tro.fe/, [äˈpɔst̪rofe]

### Noun

apostrophē f (genitive apostrophēs); first declension
* Alternative form of apostropha

#### Declension

First-declension noun (Greek-type).

### References

* “apostrophe”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* apostrophe in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.