‘ ’

‘ U+2018, ‘ LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK ← ‗ [U+2017] General Punctuation ’ → [U+2019]

’ U+2019, ’ RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK ← ‘ [U+2018] General Punctuation ‚ → [U+201A]

See also: “ ” and ' '

Translingual

Etymology

A British substitute for « », which were not widely available in metal type when quotation marks were introduced from France.

Punctuation mark

‘ ’

1. Encloses a quotation in some languages.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:‘ ’.

Derivations

• “ ”

See also

quotation marks and quotation dashes by language (edit)

• Afrikaans: “ ” · ‘ ’ · „ ” · ‚ ’
• Albanian: „ “ · ‘ ’
• Arabic: « » · ( ) · “ ”
• Armenian: « »
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: « » · “ ”
• Azerbaijani: « » · ‹ › · “ ” · " " · ‘ ’ · ' '
• Basque: « » · ‹ › · “ ” · ‘ ’
• Belarusian: « » · “ ”
• Bulgarian: „ “ · ’ ’ · ‘ ’ · « » · ’ ’ · ‘ ’ · —
• Catalan: « » · “ ” · ‘ ’, —
• Chinese: “ ” · ‘ ’ · 「 」 · 『 』
• Czech: „ “ · ‚ ‘ · » « · › ‹
• Danish: » « · „ “ · › ‹ · ‚ ’ · ” ” · ’ ’
• Dutch: ‘ ’ · “ ” · ‚ ’ · „ ”
• English U.K.: ' ' · " " · ‘ ’ · “ ”
• English U.S.: " " · ' ' · “ ” · ‘ ’
• Esperanto: (depends on country of publication)
• Estonian: „ “ · « »
• Filipino: “ ” · ‘ ’
• Finnish: ” ” · ’ ’ · » »
• French: « » · ‹ › · “ ” · —
• Georgian: „ “ · ‚ ‘ · » « · › ‹
• German: „ “ · ‚ ‘   ;   » « · › ‹   ;   regional: « » · ‹ ›
• Greek: « » · “ ” · ‟ ” · —
• Hungarian: „ ” · » « · —
• Icelandic: „ “ · ‚ ‘
• Indonesian: “ ” · ‘ ’
• Interlingua: (depends on country of publication)
• Irish: “ ” · ‘ ’
• Italian: « » · ‹ › · “ ” · ‘ ’
• Japanese: 「 」 · 『 』 · 〝 〟 · 〝 〞
• Korean: “ ” · ‘ ’ · 『 』 · 「 」
• Latvian: « » · „ “
• Lithuanian: « » · „ “
• Lower Sorbian: „ “ · ‚ ‘
• Macedonian: „ “ · ’ ‘ · ‘ ’
• Northern Kurdish: « »
• Norwegian: « » · „ “ · ‘ ’ · ‚ ‘
• Persian: « »
• Polish: „ ” · « » · » « · —
• Portuguese: “ ” · ‘ ’ · « » · —
• Romanian: „ ” · « » · —
• Russian: « » · „ “ · „ ” · —
• Serbo-Croatian: „ ” · ” ” · ‘ ’ · ’ ’ · „ “ · » «
• Slovak: „ “ · ‚ ‘ · » « · › ‹
• Slovene: „ “ · ‚ ‘ · » « · › ‹
• Spanish: « » · “ ” · ‘ ’ · —
• Swedish: ” ” · ’ ’ · » » · » « · —
• Thai: “ ” · ‘ ’
• Turkish: “ ” · ‘ ’ · « » · › ‹ · —
• Ukrainian: « » · „ ” · ‚ ‘
• Vietnamese: “ ” · —
• Welsh: ‘ ’ · “ ”

quotation marks - all matched-pairs

• Curved double quotation marks: “ ” · ” ” · „ ” · „ “ · ‟ ”
• Curved single quotation marks: ‘ ’ · ’ ’ · ‚ ’ · ‚ ‘ · ’ ‘ · ‛ ’
• Straight double quotation marks: " "
• Straight single quotation marks: ' '
• Guillemets: « » · » « · » »
• Single guillemets: ‹ › · › ‹
• Corner brackets: 「 」 · 『 』
• Angle brackets: 《 》 · 〈 〉
• Prime quotation marks: 〝 〟 · 〝 〞

quotation marks and quotation dashes - all single characters

• Curved double quotation marks: “ · ” · „ · ‟
• Curved single quotation marks and apostrophes: ‘ · ’ · ‚ · ‛
• Straight double quotation mark: "
• Straight single quotation mark and apostrophe: '
• Prime quotation marks: 〝 · 〞 · 〟
• Guillemets: « · »
• Single guillemets: ‹ · ›
• Corner brackets: 「 · 」 · 『 · 』
• Quotation dashes: — (em dash) · ― (horizontal bar) · – (en dash)

English

Punctuation mark

‘ ’

1. Encloses a quotation, title, ironic comment (scare quotes), nickname, gloss, or the mention of a word (e.g. ‘cheese’ derives from Old English ċīese.).

   See " " for a fuller list of usage.

Usage notes

For simple quotations, ‘ ’ are used in Britain while “ ” are used in the United States. With nested quotations, British usage tends to be ‘ ’ for the outer set of marks and “ ” for the inner (embedded) quotation or mention, while American usage is the opposite, though there is variation in British usage. Regardless, usage switches back and forth between single and double quotation marks if there is further embedding.

With multi-paragraph quotations, the opening mark is used for each paragraph, but the closing mark only for the final paragraph.

Words, titles and sometimes quoted passages may be set in italic typeface rather than set off with quotation marks.

Chinese

Punctuation mark

‘ ’

1. (Mainland China, horizontal writing) Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation. The outer quotation is enclosed with “ ”.

Usage notes

With vertical text, 「 」 is used.

In Taiwan, 『 』 is used for both vertical and horizontal text.

Hindi

Punctuation mark

‘ ’

1. Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation.

Usage notes

The languages of India, including Modern Standard Hindi and Modern Standard Urdu, follow the American-English convention of “ ” for a simple or embedding quotation and ‘ ’ for an embedded quotation.

Portuguese

Punctuation mark

‘ ’

1. (Brazil) Encloses an embedded (inner) quotation.
2. (Portugal) Encloses a doubly embedded quotation.

Usage notes

Brazil follows American usage of “ ” for a simple or outer quotation, and ‘ ’ for an embedded quotation.

Portugal follows French usage of « » for a simple or outer quotation, “ ” for an embedded quotation, and ‘ ’ for a doubly embedded quotation or mention, thus: « ... “ ... ‘ ... ’ ... ” ... ».