Horizontal ellipsis

Indicates omitted words in a quotation or a sentence that trails off… As a single character it keeps the three dots evenly spaced and prevents them from breaking across a line ending, which can happen when you type three separate periods. Most styles set a space on each side when words are omitted mid-sentence.

Biography

Greek rhetoric

The mark of trailing off. Writers had long used rows of dots to show a pause or an omission, and printers eventually standardized on three, evenly spaced, as one character. The word is Greek — élleipsis, a falling short or leaving out — the same root behind the ellipse and the grammarian's ellipsis, the words a sentence deliberately omits.

Copy it anywhere

  • Symbol
  • UnicodeU+2026
  • HTML entity…
  • CSS content\2026
  • JavaScript\u2026
  • URL encoded%E2%80%A6
  • Windows Alt codeAlt+0133

Related symbols