eroteme

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐρώτημα (erṓtēma).

Noun

eroteme (plural erotemes)

1. A question mark.
   • 1858, Goold Brown, The Grammar of English Grammars, fourth edition, Samuel S. and William Wood, page 798,

     The value of the eroteme as a sign of pause, is stated very differently by different grammarians.... J.S. Hart avers, that, "A question is reckoned as equal to a complete sentence, and the mark of interrogation as equal to a period."

   • 1913, Frank H. Vizetelly, The Preparation of Manuscripts for the Printer, 5th revised edition, Funk & Wagnalls Company, page 50:

     The note of interrogation or eroteme is used at the end of a sentence to designate (1) a single question or (2) more, and (3) is sometimes written in parentheses to express a doubt or challenge the accuracy of a statement.

   • 1965, Dmitri A. Borgmann, Language on Vacation: An Olio of Orthographical Oddities, Scribner, page 240:

     On the typewriter keyboard, just below the question mark (the eroteme, note of interrogation, or uncertainty sign), there appears a short, slanting stroke […]

See also

• ecphoneme

Punctuation

• apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
• curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
• square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
• colon ( : )
• comma ( , )
• dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
• ellipsis ( … )
• exclamation mark ( ! )
• fraction slash ( ⁄ )
• guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
• hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
• interpunct ( · )
• interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
• brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
• full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
• question mark ( ? )
• quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
• quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
• semicolon ( ; )
• slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
• space ( ] [ )