DictionaryAI

ampersand

AM-pur-sand/ˈæm.pɚ.sænd/UKAM-puh-sand/ˈæm.pə(ɹ).sænd/

Pluralampersands

Verbampersands, ampersanding, ampersanded

2 meanings of ampersand

Practice

  1. 1
    and symbolnouncountable
    The symbol &, used in writing to stand for the word and.

    It works like a road sign that stands in for a whole word: one mark doing the job of three letters.

    Designers often place an ampersand between the founders' surnames in a firm's name.

    Texting quickly, she dropped an ampersand into the note instead of spelling out the whole word.

    Note

    A name that began as a slurred phrase. Letters standing alone were once named with per se, as in "I per se I" or "O per se O". So & by itself, as opposed to the & in &c, was "and per se and," run together until it blurred. Hester Lynch Thrale in 1777 heard it as "Ipse and" and "ampuse and". Samuel Jackson Pratt's "from great A to ampersand" (1795) treats it as the alphabet's final stop.

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 6 facts

    • Letters used independently as words were named with per se, including I per se I and O per se O. en.wiktionary.org
    • And per se and distinguished the independent symbol from its occurrence in forms such as &c. en.wikipedia.org
    • And per se and became ampersand through phonetic contraction. en.wiktionary.org
    • Hester Lynch Thrale recorded the forms Ipse and and ampuse and in 1777. en.wiktionary.org
    • Samuel Jackson Pratt used from great A to ampersand in 1795, suggesting the alphabet's endpoint. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Pratt work containing the quotation was published in 1795. writersinspire.org
  2. 2
    verbraretransitive
    To insert an ampersand into a name, title, or other piece of text.

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Origin

"Ampersand" is a run-together pronunciation of "and per se and," which meant the symbol ⟨&⟩ read by itself as "and": following an old pattern like "O per se O." The specific form "ampersand" is first attested in 1795, though the name for the symbol appears as early as 1777 (as "ampuse and").

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts