Ellipsis

An ellipsis

Ellipsis is a term of punctuation marks with a row of three points (…). Its name comes from the ancient Greek word ἔλλειψις (omission/falling short). Notice that the three dots are not spaced as full points: they are a separate special typographic sign.

Depending on context and place in a sentence, ellipses can indicate an unfinished thought, a leading statement, a slight pause, a mysterious or echoing voice, or a nervous or awkward silence. An ellipsis can be used to trail off into silence—for example: But I thought he was…

• So much more could be said…

When text is quoted from a book or a newspaper, it stands for words that have been cut out to save space in a page. For example:

• "…one day all Americans will live peacefully throughout the world…they will be at peace with all other world inhabitants…"

When speaking, it can be referred to as "dot-dot-dot".

In mathematics, different symbols for ellipsis are used to a similar effect. These include the horizontal ellipsis symbols $\dots$ and $\cdots$, along with vertical ellipsis symbols such as $⋮$ and $\ddots$ .

Related pages

• Punctuation

References

• Bringhurst, Robert 2002. The elements of typographic style (version 2.5), pp 82–83. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks Publishers. Template:ISBN
• Morris, William 1980. The Houghton Mifflin Canadian dictionary of the English language, page 424. Markham, Ontario: Houghton Mifflin Canada. Template:ISBN

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