Reference mark
Typographical mark (※)
The reference mark or reference symbol "※" is a typographic mark or word used in Chinese, Japanese and Korean (CJK) writing.
The symbol was used historically to call attention to an important sentence or idea, such as a prologue or footnote. As an indicator of a note, the mark serves the same purpose as the asterisk in English. However, in Japanese usage, the note text is placed directly into the main text immediately after the reference mark, rather than at the bottom of the page or end of chapter as is the case in English writing.
01Names
The Japanese name, komejirushi (Japanese: こめじるし; 米印, pronounced [komedʑiꜜɾɯɕi], lit. 'rice symbol'), refers to the symbol's visual similarity to the kanji for "rice" (米).
In Korean, the symbol's name, chamgopyo (Korean: 참고표; 參考標), simply means "reference mark". Informally, the symbol is often called danggujangpyo (당구장표; 撞球場標; lit. 'billiard hall mark'), as it is often used to indicate the presence of pool halls, due to its visual similarity to two crossed cue sticks and four billiard balls.
In Chinese, the symbol is called cānkǎo biāojì (Chinese: 参考标记; lit. 'reference mark') or mǐ xīnghào (Chinese: 米星号; lit. 'rice asterisk' due to its visual similarity to 米 "rice"). It is not often used in Chinese writing.
02Unicode
In Unicode, the symbol has the code point U+203B ※ REFERENCE MARK.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Reference mark”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.
