ampersand

A mondegreen of and per se and, ⟨&⟩ being read as “and”. Letters used by themselves were formerly mentioned according to this pattern, as in “O per se O” for the particle O or “I per se I” for the pronoun I.^[1] “And per se and” thus meant ⟨&⟩ by itself, as opposed to forms such as &c.

The specific form ampersand is first attested in 1795, originally as a mocking pronunciation spelling, but this name for the symbol is attested since 1777 (as ampuse and), when it is already called common (see quotations).^[2]

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæm.pə(ɹ).sænd/, /ˈæmp.ə(ɹ)ˌzænd/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General American):

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ampersand (plural ampersands)

2. The symbol "&".

   The ampersand character in many logics acts as an operator connecting two propositions.

   • [1777 August–September, Hester Lynch Thrale, edited by Katharine C[anby] Balderston, Thraliana: The Diary of Mrs. Hester Lynch Thrale (Later Mrs. Piozzi) 1776–1809, volume I (1776–1784), Oxford, Oxfordshire: At the Clarendon Press, published 1942, →OCLC, page 145:

     The Letter commonly called Ipse and and ampuse and viz &. is a corruption of a per se and: spoken very quick; they used formerly it seems to put a single Greek α, for a contraction of and, & so this was a per se and.]

   • 1795, [Samuel Jackson] Pratt, “Letter XXI. To the same [i.e., the Honourable Mrs. B.].”, in Gleanings through Wales, Holland and Westphalia, with Views of Peace and War at Home and Abroad. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] N[orton] Longman, and L[eonard] B[enton] Seeley, […], →OCLC, page 311:

     At length, having tried all the hiſtorians from great A, to amperſand, he perceives there is no eſcaping from the puzzle, but by ſelecting his own facts, forming his own concluſions, and putting a little truſt in his own reaſon and judgment.

   • 2004, “I Don't Believe You”, performed by The Magnetic Fields:

     So you're brilliant, gorgeous, and / Ampersand after ampersand / You think I just don't understand

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:ampersand.

• epershand (Scotland)

• ampersat

ampersand (third-person singular simple present ampersands, present participle ampersanding, simple past and past participle ampersanded)

1. (transitive, rare) To add an ampersand to.

• ampersand on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Typography

• manspread

Borrowed from English ampersand. First attested in the 20th century.

• IPA^(key): /amˈpɛr.sant/

• Audio 1:

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• Audio 2:

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• Rhymes: -ɛrsant
• Syllabification: am‧per‧sand

ampersand m inan

1. (typography) ampersand

• ampersand in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Unadapted borrowing from English ampersand.

• IPA^(key): /ˈampeɾsand/ [ˈãm.peɾ.sãn̪d̪]
  • Rhymes: -ampeɾsand
• IPA^(key): /ampeɾˈsand/ [ãm.peɾˈsãn̪d̪]
  • Rhymes: -and
• Syllabification: am‧per‧sand

ampersand m (plural ampersands)

1. ampersand

   Synonyms: y comercial, et

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

• Manuel Seco; Olimpia Andrés; Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023), “ampersand”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]