Japanese Typographic Symbols - Punctuation Marks

Punctuation Marks

JIS X 0208 JIS X 0213 Unicode Name(s) Usage
2123 1-1-3 U+3002

kuten (句点?, "sentence point", "period")
maru (丸?, "circle", "small ball")

Marks the end of a sentence. Japanese equivalent of full stop or period.
2122 1-1-4 U+3001

tōten (読点?, "reading point")

Japanese equivalent of a comma
2126 1-1-6 U+30FB

nakaguro (中黒?, "middle black")
potsu (ぽつ?)
nakaten (中点?, "middle point")

Used to separate foreign words and items in lists. For example, if "ビルゲイツ" ‘BillGates’ is written instead of "ビル・ゲイツ" ‘Bill Gates’, a Japanese person unfamiliar with the names might have difficulty understanding which part represents the given name and which one represents the surname. This symbol is known as an interpunct in English.

U+30A0,
U+FF1D

daburu haifun (ダブルハイフン?, "double hyphen")

Sometimes replaces an English en dash or hyphen when writing foreign words in katakana. It is also rarely used to separate given and family names, though the middle dot (nakaguro) is much more common in these cases. See also double hyphen.

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Famous quotes containing the word marks:

    What is clear is that Christianity directed increased attention to childhood. For the first time in history it seemed important to decide what the moral status of children was. In the midst of this sometimes excessive concern, a new sympathy for children was promoted. Sometimes this meant criticizing adults. . . . So far as parents were put on the defensive in this way, the beginning of the Christian era marks a revolution in the child’s status.
    C. John Sommerville (20th century)