single quote

English

Noun

single quote (plural single quotes)

1. A quotation mark, as in She said, 'Go ahead'.
2. An apostrophe, as in Let's do it.

Usage notes

• An "inverted comma" is sometimes used in the United Kingdom as a quotation mark:
  • She said, ‘Yes, that would be lovely.’ is often used instead of "double style" "inverted commas", as in She said, “Yes, that would be lovely.”
• Single quotes are typically used in United States English to mark a quotation embedded within another quotation:
  • She said, "Frank Sinatra once said, ‘Don't get mad, get even.’ That’s always been my philosophy, too."

Synonyms

• inverted comma

Related terms

• double quote

Translations

quotation mark

• German: einfaches Anführungszeichen n
• Swedish: enkelt citationstecken (sv) n, enkelfnutt (sv) c (colloquial)

apostrophe

• German: Auslassungszeichen (de) n