apostrophe
/əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.76 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The text character ’, which serves as a punctuation mark in various languages and as a diacritical mark in certain rare contexts.
noun
A sudden exclamatory piece of dialogue addressed to someone or something, especially absent.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An arrangement of chlorophyll grains perpendicular to the outer surface of plant cells, as opposed to epistrophe (an arrangement on the outer surface).
Example Sentences
- "Since its inception the apostrophe has been a controversial piece of punctuation."
- "Apostrophe a bold digression makes, Mov'd by some sudden thought the theme awakes."
- "The warm apostrophe of Riccardini to this little representative of his parents, whom he called "the son of his love, the child of his old age, the gift of his beloved niece, on the behalf of his angel-daughter," affected them all;..."
- "As is well known, chloroplast in the epistrophe position presents an oval or more or less circular form; in the apostrophe position a flattened and lenticular form."
Etymology
From French apostrophe, or Latin apostrophus, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστροφος (apóstrophos, “accent of elision”), a noun use of an adjective from ἀποστρέφω (apostréphō, “to turn away”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + στρέφω (stréphō, “to turn”).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: apostrophe, apostrophus, ἀπόστροφος, ἀποστροφή
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈpɑs.tɹə.fi/
- British English: /əˈpɒs.tɹə.fi/