# *

| Text style | Emoji style |
| *︎ | *️ |
| Text style is forced with ⟨&#xFE0E;⟩ and emoji style with ⟨&#xFE0F;⟩. ||
| * U+002A, &#42; ASTERISK ← ) [U+0029] Basic Latin + → [U+002B] ||
| ⁎ | U+204E, &#8270; LOW ASTERISK |
| ← ⁍ [U+204D] | General Punctuation | ⁏ → [U+204F] |
| ✱ | U+2731, &#10033; HEAVY ASTERISK |
| ← ✰ [U+2730] | Dingbats | ✲ → [U+2732] |
| ✲ | U+2732, &#10034; OPEN CENTRE ASTERISK |
| ← ✱ [U+2731] | Dingbats | ✳ → [U+2733] |
| ✻ | U+273B, &#10043; TEARDROP-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✺ [U+273A] | Dingbats | ✼ → [U+273C] |
| ✼ | U+273C, &#10044; OPEN CENTRE TEARDROP-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✻ [U+273B] | Dingbats | ✽ → [U+273D] |
| ✽ | U+273D, &#10045; HEAVY TEARDROP-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✼ [U+273C] | Dingbats | ✾ → [U+273E] |
| ❉ | U+2749, &#10057; BALLOON-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ❈ [U+2748] | Dingbats | ❊ → [U+274A] |
| ✢ | U+2722, &#10018; FOUR TEARDROP-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✡ [U+2721] | Dingbats | ✣ → [U+2723] |
| ✣ | U+2723, &#10019; FOUR BALLOON-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✢ [U+2722] | Dingbats | ✤ → [U+2724] |
| ✤ | U+2724, &#10020; HEAVY FOUR BALLOON-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✣ [U+2723] | Dingbats | ✥ → [U+2725] |
| ✥ | U+2725, &#10021; FOUR CLUB-SPOKED ASTERISK |
| ← ✤ [U+2724] | Dingbats | ✦ → [U+2726] |
| ❃ | U+2743, &#10051; HEAVY TEARDROP-SPOKED PINWHEEL ASTERISK |
| ← ❂ [U+2742] | Dingbats | ❄ → [U+2744] |
| ❊ | U+274A, &#10058; EIGHT TEARDROP-SPOKED PROPELLER ASTERISK |
| ← ❉ [U+2749] | Dingbats | ❋ → [U+274B] |
| ❋ | U+274B, &#10059; HEAVY EIGHT TEARDROP-SPOKED PROPELLER ASTERISK |
| ← ❊ [U+274A] | Dingbats | ❌ → [U+274C] |
| ✺ | U+273A, &#10042; SIXTEEN POINTED ASTERISK |
| ← ✹ [U+2739] | Dingbats | ✻ → [U+273B] |
| ＊ | U+FF0A, &#65290; FULLWIDTH ASTERISK |
| ← ） [U+FF09] | Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms | ＋ → [U+FF0B] |
| ﹡ | U+FE61, &#65121; SMALL ASTERISK |
| ← ﹠ [U+FE60] | Small Form Variants | ﹢ → [U+FE62] |

## Translingual
### Symbol

* (English symbol name asterisk)
* (alchemy) Sal ammoniac (6 or 8 point).
* (astronomy) A star (5 or 6 point).
* (Internet slang) Alternative form of * * (“encloses an interpretation”)
    I can't see anything! – Hold on a second… *turns the light on
* (computing) Used as a multiplication symbol; ×.
* (regular expressions) Used as a wildcard to detect zero or more occurrences of the preceding element.
    The string ab*c matches “ac”, “abc”, “abbc”, “abbbc”, and so on.
* (mathematics)
** (algebra) Complex or transpose conjugate; conjugate.
** (algebra, computer science) Free monoid or Kleene star.
    In the language defined by AB*A, each string starts with an A, ends with a distinct A, and between them has zero or more Bs.
** (linear algebra, functional analysis) Dual space.
* (meteorology) Snow (6 point).
* (particle physics) Used to designate a resonance.
* (IPA) a reserved symbol with no set meaning, that needs to be defined by the transcriber. May be used as a letter or as a diacritic.
* (linguistics)
** (descriptive linguistics) Used before a term (such as a word, phrase, or sentence) to show that it is grammatically incorrect, or in some other way ill-formed.
    Coordinate term: **
    English prepositions come before the associated noun: we say She lives in Rome, not *She lives Rome in.
    Roots like *bep- were not allowed in Proto-Indo-European.
** (historical linguistics) Used before or after a term to denote that it is only hypothesized and not actually attested.
*** When used before a term: that the term has been reconstructed by a linguist, on the basis of comparative method or by comparing other reconstructed terms, as the plausible ancestor form of an existing, attested term in one or more languages.
    Coordinate term: **
    It is posited that Proto-Indo-European *sneygʷʰos is the etymon of both Latin nix and English snow.
    His theory of the Proto-Slavic *kъniga being ultimately derived from Chinese, via the middle form *kūinig, reflecting ancient routes of cultural influx from the East, has not gained a firm ground in the Slavicist circles in the last century.
*** When used after a term: that the term is actually attested, but not in its citation form that is being mentioned.
    PIE *ḱonk- yielded Vedic śaṅk-ate “worries, hesitates”, as well as pre-Germanic *kank-, whence also Gothic hāhan* “to hang”.
*** When used before a symbol representing a phoneme: that the phoneme is reconstructed on the basis of comparative method.
    Proto-Germanic had three unvoiced fricatives: */f/, */þ/, and */h/.
*** When used before a symbol representing a sound value: that the sound value is hypothesized.
    Proto-Germanic had three unvoiced fricatives, possibly representing *[ɸ], *[θ], and *[x].
* (music) A pointing mark in Anglican chant, which marks a place in the text where an extra breath should be taken, resulting in a brief pause.
    Coordinate terms: |, ', :, ⋅, —, ‖, †

#### Synonyms

* (multiplication symbol): ×, x, ·

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “multiplication symbol”): :, /, ÷

#### Coordinate terms

* (multiplication symbol): +, -, /, %, ^, **

#### Derived terms

* * * (encloses text for emphasis)
* (astronomy): V*, Cl*
* (multiplication symbol): **
* (wildcard): *.*
* (linguistics): **

### Punctuation mark

* Used to censor sections of obscene or profane words.
    F**k You!
** (Internet slang) Used to censor non-offensive words to treat them as insulting or profane.
    T*rks, K*rds
    wh*te "people"
* Used in a dictionary or similar work to indicate a cross-reference to another entry.
** 2014, The Oxford Dictionary of English Grammar, 2nd edition (in English), Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 25:analysis The process of breaking up *words, *phrases, *clauses, *sentences, *constructions, etc. into their *constituent parts.
* Used at the beginning of a footnote, especially if it is the only one on the page, and after a word, phrase, or sentence that this footnote relates to.
* (by extension) Used at the beginning of a clarifying statement or disclaimer, especially if it is the only one on the page.
** 2022 August 5, “Monkeypox 2022 U.S. Map & Case Count”, in [United States] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‎, archived from the original on 2022-08-05:Total confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases: 7,102 *One Florida case is listed here but included in the United Kingdom case counts because the individual was tested while in the UK.
* (cricket) Used to marks a score or statistic that is incomplete, such as the score of a batsman who is (or was) not out.
* (chiefly computing) Uses especially in computing.
** Used as a wildcard to denote zero or more characters.
    trans* ― transgender or transsexual
** (Internet) Used to indicate a field of a form that must be filled out.
** (Internet slang) Used before or after a word to show a correction has been made, chiefly by the same participant.
    I'm our of time. / *out
* (genealogy) Used before a date to denote that it is a birthdate.
* Used to indicate emphasis, see * *.
* Used to form a dinkus, * * *, or asterism, ⁂.

#### Usage notes

* The English names of the mark are asterisk and star.
* In Internet slang, when two or more corrections are made, one may add a * with each correction.
    I just got back from Sarcamento / *Sacarmento / **Sacramento

#### Synonyms

* (in censoring): ■, —
* (footnote): †, ‡, §, ‖, ¶
* (as wildcard): %
* (genealogy): °

#### Antonyms

* (antonym(s) of “genealogy”): † / ✝ / + (French)

#### Coordinate terms

* (beginning a footnote): †, ‡, **, [numbers]
* (as wildcard): ?
* (genealogy): ⚭ / ✕, ⚮, ⚵ (German)
* (grammatically incorrect): ?

## English
### Symbol

* (text messaging) Star.
    ur a *! ― You’re a star!
* (text messaging) Used to replace the sounds /stɑː(ɹ)/ (star) in any word that has this pronunciation or similar.
    *t ― start
    *fish ― starfish
    *g8 ― stargate
* (astronomy) ＊: A star (also ✶ or ⚹).

## German
### Symbol

* (nonstandard) the Gendersternchen; Used to separate multiple gendered inflections in gender-neutral writing.
    Freund*innen; ein*e Beamt*er*in; Witwe*rfriends (of any gender); an officer (of any gender); widower (of any gender)
** 2020 February 23, Alexander Diehl, “Hamburger Küche: Aal kann – muss aber nicht”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎, →ISSN:Aber genauer besehen sind sie in Hamburg ja Lutheraner*innen, und Luther war das Leibliche so fern nun wieder nicht.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Usage notes

* In speech either expanded (Spieler*in → Spieler oder Spielerin), or realized with a glottal stop /ˈʃpiːləʁʔɪn/.
* Issues can arise with some forms, compare:
** Freunde m pl, Freundinnen f pl → Freund*innen, where the e of the masculine term is dropped and it's not Freunde*innen
** Arzt m, Ärztin f → Ärzt*in, where the umlaut-less A is not present
** ein Abgeordneter m, eine Abgeordnete f → ein*e Abgeordnete*r, where the feminine-like ein*e occurs together with the masculine-like Abgeordnete*r

#### Synonyms

* : (as in Freund:innen; nonstandard, rare)
* _ (as in Freund_innen; nonstandard)
* / (as in Freund/innen; nonstandard, proscribed)
* /- (as in Mitarbeiter/-innen)
* (as in Mitarbeiter(innen))
* (m/w/d) (as in Mitarbeiter (m/w/d))
* capital I in -in (“feminine suffix”) (as in FreundInnen; nonstandard, proscribed)
"gender-neutral", but binary only:
* und (as in Freunde und Freundinnen)
* männlich und weiblich (as in männliche und weibliche Freunde)
* beiderlei Geschlechts (as in Freunde beiderlei Geschlechts)
* (m/w) (as in Freund (m/w))