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Solidus (punctuation)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The solidus character U+2044, ⁄, also known as a shilling mark or fraction bar, is a punctuation mark; it is not found on standard keyboards.
The solidus is similar to the slash, a character found on standard keyboards. In the United States, the term virgule is also in use. In typography, however, they are distinct symbols with decidedly different uses. The slope of the solidus is substantially different from that of the slash.
Most people do not distinguish between the two characters, and when there is no alternative it is acceptable to use the slash in place of the solidus. Note that the ISO and Unicode both designate the solidus character as the “FRACTION SLASH”,[1] while designating the slash character “SOLIDUS”[2]; this contradicts long-established English typesetting terminology.[3]
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apostrophe ( ’ ' ) |
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ampersand ( & ) |
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asterism ( ⁂ ) |
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The names solidus and shilling mark have the same background. In the Commonwealth of Nations, prior to decimalisation in the various regions, currency amounts in pounds, shillings, and pence were abbreviated using '£', 's.', and 'd.', collectively £sd, referring to the libra, solidus, and denarius. The 's.' was written using a long s, ∫, which was further abbreviated to the '⁄', along with suppressing the 'd.'. Thus '2 pounds, 10 shillings, and 6 pence' would be written as '£2,10⁄6', instead of '£2, 10s. 6d.', and '6 shillings' would be written as '6⁄-'. It is this usage which caused the names solidus, due to the historical root of the abbreviation, and shilling mark to be used to refer to this character.
The shilling mark is used to denote shillings, see the History section above.
The solidus is used in the display of ratios and fractions as in constructing a fraction using superscript and subscript as in “123⁄456”, or on the same level as in 23∕50. It should be used instead of a slash, and is preferred whenever possible. It is found in many legacy Apple Macintosh character sets. It can be typed on a Macintosh computer by pressing option+shift+1. Systems capable of fine typography should display the result as a true fraction with smaller numbers.
Unicode also distinguishes the Division Slash U+2215 ( ∕ ) which may be more oblique than the normal solidus character.
- ^ Unicode ASCII Punctuation code chart p.4
- ^ Unicode General Punctuation code chart p.169
- ^ The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst
- Typography Words of the Day: Slashes (2006-03-03)