Mark glossary
Every mark you'll meet in Dotty: what it's called, what it does and where in the world it's used. Rare marks stay hidden until you meet them in a bonus round.
Accents
Marks that sit on or under a letter and change how it's said. Dictionaries call them diacritics.
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é
Acute
Leans to the right. Used in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Icelandic and more. In French it changes the sound of e, as in café; in Spanish it shows which syllable to stress.
In Dotty: café, résumé, Málaga
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è
Grave
Say it to rhyme with 'halve'.
Leans to the left. Found mostly in French and Italian. In French it tells où (where) apart from ou (or).
In Dotty: crème, première, à la carte
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ê
Circumflex
Nicknamed the little hat.
Common in French, Portuguese and Welsh. In French it often marks a lost s: château was once chasteau, and fête was feste, like our feast.
In Dotty: château, crêpe, Ynys Môn
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ñ
Tilde
The little wave. Best known from Spanish ñ, as in señor, which began as a double n with the second one shrunk on top. Portuguese uses it on vowels, as in São Paulo.
In Dotty: señor, piña colada, São Paulo
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ë
Diaeresis
Also called an umlaut, depending on the job.
The same two dots do two jobs. In German, Swedish, Finnish, Turkish and Hungarian they change a vowel's sound, and German calls them an umlaut. In French and English they tell you to say a vowel separately, as in naïve and Zoë. Heavy metal bands add them just for show.
In Dotty: naïve, Zoë, Motörhead
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å
Ring
Also called a kroužek in Czech.
A small circle on top. Used in Swedish, Danish and Norwegian, where å is a letter of its own near the end of the alphabet, and in Czech as ů.
In Dotty: smörgåsbord
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ç
Cedilla
From the Spanish for 'little z'.
The little tail underneath. Used in French and Portuguese to make c soft, like an s, and in Turkish for ç and ş.
In Dotty: façade, garçon, Besançon
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č
Caron
Also called a háček, Czech for 'little hook', or a wedge.
A small v on top. Used in Czech, Slovak, Slovenian, Croatian, Latvian and Lithuanian. It usually turns c into ch, s into sh and z into the sound in 'measure'.
In Dotty: Škoda, Dvořák, Plzeň
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ă
Breve
From the Latin for 'short'.
A small rounded cup on top. Used in Romanian (ă), Turkish (ğ) and Vietnamese, and in old poetry books to mark a short syllable.
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ā
Macron
From the Greek for 'long'.
A flat bar on top that marks a long vowel. Used in Māori, Latvian and Hawaiian, and in Latin textbooks.
In Dotty: Māori
Punctuation
Marks that sit between words and tell you how to read them.
Sentence punctuation
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.
Full stop
Called a period in the US.
Ends a sentence. Americans also put one after Mr, Mrs and Dr, which is why some official titles have it.
In Dotty: Dr. No, will.i.am
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!
Exclamation mark
Called an exclamation point in the US.
Shows surprise, excitement or a raised voice. Some place names and titles carry one as part of the name.
In Dotty: Westward Ho!, Oklahoma!, Wham!
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?
Question mark
Ends a question. Greek uses a mark that looks like our semicolon instead.
In Dotty: Where's Wally?, What's Up, Doc?
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…
Ellipsis
Also called dot dot dot.
Three dots that show words left out, or a thought trailing off…
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¡ ¿
Inverted exclamation and question marks
Spanish opens exclamations and questions with upside-down marks, so you know the tone from the very first word.
In Dotty: ¡Hola!, ¿Qué pasa?
Commas and separators
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,
Comma
Marks a short pause and separates parts of a sentence. Sometimes it changes the meaning completely. In much of Europe it's also the decimal point, so 3.5 is written 3,5.
In Dotty: Hello, Dolly!, Let's eat, Grandma!
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;
Semicolon
Joins two closely linked sentences; stronger than a comma, softer than a full stop. In Greek the same shape is the question mark.
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:
Colon
Introduces a list, a quote or an explanation. In film titles it often splits the name from the subtitle.
In Dotty: Mission: Impossible
Apostrophes
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’
Apostrophe
Marks missing letters, as in o'clock (of the clock), and shows ownership. French uses it too: c'est, l'eau.
In Dotty: o'clock, King's Lynn, Guns N' Roses
Quotation marks
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“ ”
Quotation marks
Also called inverted commas or speech marks.
Show speech, quotes and nicknames. English uses curly ones. French, Russian and Italian use guillemets instead, and German often uses „ “.
In Dotty: "Weird Al" Yankovic, Earvin "Magic" Johnson
Brackets
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( )
Round brackets
Called parentheses in the US.
Set aside extra information that the sentence could do without.
In Dotty: (500) Days of Summer, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
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[ ]
Square brackets
Show words added by someone other than the writer, often an editor.
In Dotty: [sic]
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{ }
Curly brackets
Also called braces.
Mostly used in maths, to group a set of things, and in computer code.
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< >
Angle brackets
Also called chevrons.
Used in maths and computer code, and online for typed hearts.
In Dotty: <3
Guillemets
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« »
Guillemets
Also called angle quotes. Said to be named after a French printer called Guillaume.
The quotation marks of French, Russian, Italian, Spanish and many more. French puts a small space inside them: « Bonjour ».
Hyphens and dashes
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-
Hyphen
The shortest line. Joins words together into one idea.
In Dotty: mother-in-law, Stratford-upon-Avon, Jay-Z
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–
En dash
Roughly as wide as a letter n.
Links ranges of numbers and dates. A hyphen is often used instead, and Dotty accepts either.
In Dotty: 1939–1945, 1914–1918
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—
Em dash
Roughly as wide as a letter m.
Marks a sudden break in a sentence — like this.
Slashes
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/
Slash
Also called an oblique or a stroke.
Shows alternatives and splits.
In Dotty: AC/DC, 24/7, and/or
Rare marks
Solve Dotty in 1 or 2 goes to unlock the bonus round. Now and then it shows one of these.
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❧
Fleuron
Also called a hedera, Latin for ivy.
A printer's flower, used to decorate the end of a section or a chapter.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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☙
Reversed fleuron
A fleuron turned the other way, often used in pairs to frame a heading.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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¶
Pilcrow
The paragraph mark.
Medieval scribes painted it in red to start a new thought. Word processors still show it where you pressed Enter.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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§
Section sign
Points to a numbered section of a law or document, as in §12.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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☞︎
Manicule
Latin for 'little hand'. Also called an index or a fist.
Readers drew them in margins to point at important lines, centuries before the mouse pointer.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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⁂
Asterism
Three asterisks in a triangle, used to break up a chapter.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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†
Dagger
Also called an obelisk.
The footnote mark that comes after the asterisk.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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‡
Double dagger
The next footnote mark after the dagger.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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‽
Interrobang
A question mark and exclamation mark in one, invented by an American advertising man in 1962 for questions like 'You did what‽'
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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?
Percontation point
A backwards question mark proposed in the 1580s for rhetorical questions. It never caught on.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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÷
Obelus
Before it meant divide, it marked doubtful passages in ancient manuscripts.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.
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Four dot punctuation
An ancient mark used to separate sections in early Greek writing.
Locked. Meet this mark in a Dotty bonus round to reveal it.