View source for Ditto mark

{{Short description|Typographic symbol indicating repetition of characters above}}
{{Infobox symbol
|mark=<nowiki>''</nowiki>
|unicode={{unichar|0027|nlink=Apostrophe}} (×2)<br/>{{unichar|0022|nlink = quotation marks}}<br/>{{unichar|201D|nlink=quotation marks}}<br/>{{unichar|3003}} ([[CJK characters|CJK character]])  
|different from={{unichar|2033|DOUBLE PRIME|nlink=Prime (symbol)}}
}}
The '''ditto mark''' is a shorthand [[sign]], used mostly in hand-written text, indicating that the words or figures above it are to be repeated.<ref name="OED">{{cite dictionary |title=Ditto mark |url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/ditto_mark |url-status=dead |access-date=10 May 2021 |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries |quote=A symbol formed from two apostrophes (〃) representing 'ditto'. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927074630/https://www.lexico.com/definition/ditto_mark |archive-date=27 September 2021}}</ref><ref name=Collins>{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ditto-mark | title= Ditto mark |  publisher = Collins Dictionaries | access-date=30 December 2019 | quote= two small marks (") placed under something to indicate that it is to be repeated}}</ref> 

The mark is made using "a pair of [[apostrophe]]s";<ref name=OED /> "a pair of marks {{serif|{{char|"}}}} used underneath a word";<ref>{{cite web |title=Ditto—Definition for English-Language Learners |url=https://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/ditto |url-status=live |access-date=10 May 2021 |website=Merriam-Webster Learner's Dictionary |publisher=[[Merriam Webster]] |quote=A pair of marks " used underneath a word to save space and show that the word is repeated where the marks are.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505204207/http://learnersdictionary.com/definition/ditto |archive-date=2015-05-05 }}</ref> the symbol {{serif|{{char|"}}}} ([[quotation mark]]);<ref name=Collins /><ref name = Cam>{{cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ditto | title=Ditto |publisher=Cambridge Dictionaries |access-date=30 December 2019}} but the Cambridge Dictionary of Business English on the same page uses the CJK ditto mark {{char|〃}}</ref> or the symbol {{serif|{{char|”}}}} (right double quotation mark).<ref>{{cite book| title= The Concise Oxford Dictionary | date = 18 August 2011 | publisher = OUP Oxford | editor1 = Angus Stevenson |editor2= Maurice Waite  | isbn=  	9780199601110}}</ref>

In the following example, the second line reads "Blue pens, box of twenty".
<pre>
Black pens, box of twenty ... $2.10
Blue  "     "   "  "      ... $2.35
</pre>

== History ==
[[File:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg|thumb|left|Ditto marks date to cuneiform tablets.]]
Early evidence of ditto marks can be seen on a cuneiform tablet of the [[Neo-Assyrian]] period (934–608 BCE) where two vertical marks are used in a table of synonyms to repeat text.<ref>{{British-Museum-db|K.4375|id=308401}} and [[:File:Library of Ashurbanipal synonym list tablet.jpg]]</ref>

The word ''ditto'' comes from the [[Tuscan language]],<ref name=tfd /> where it is the past participle of the verb {{Lang|it|dire}} (to say), with the meaning of "said", as in the [[Figure of speech|locution]] "the said story". The first recorded use of ''ditto'' with this meaning in English occurs in 1625.<ref name="tfd">{{Cite web |title=ditto |url=https://www.tfd.com/ditto |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=TheFreeDictionary.com |language=en}}</ref>

In English, the abbreviation "'''''do.'''''", usually italicised, has sometimes been used instead of ditto marks - see example below, and also in a table in a U.S. Patent.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/91/19/ba/c7663b55f10235/US2482761.pdf|title=U.S. Patent 2,482,761 | publisher= [[United States Patent Office]] | language=en | access-date= 14 Jan 2025}}</ref>
[[File:PerthGazette 1833 06 01 1 ditto.jpg|thumb|320px|none|An advertisement from 1833. The second item on the list can be read as "Prime American Pork, in barrels", but the third and fourth are ambiguous as to the origin of the meat. The repetition indicator used is {{notatypo|"do." }}([[Perth Gazette]])]]

==Other languages==
[[File:Song ding inscription (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.5|Bronzeware script, {{circa|825 BCE}}, showing "{{lang|zh|子<sub>𠄠</sub>孫<sub>𠄠</sub>寶用}}", where the small {{lang|zh|𠄠}} ("two") is used as iteration marks in the phrase "{{lang|zh|子子孫孫寶用}}" ("descendants to use and to treasure").]]

Other languages may use equivalent symbols. For example, in Norwegian and Swedish handwriting, a version using horizontal lines to indicate the span of the cell in a table where an entry repeats is sometimes seen (––〃––).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://naob.no/ordbok/gjentagelsestegn|title=gjentagelsestegn - Det Norske Akademis ordbok| publisher= [[Norwegian Academy]] | language=nb | trans-title= repetition signs - The Norwegian Academy's dictionary | access-date= 16 July 2023}}</ref> In French, it is called a {{lang|fr|[[guillemet]] itératif}}, but the actual symbol used may vary: {{char|<big>»</big>}} is used in Quebec, while in France {{char|<big>—</big>}} is preferred.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://vitrinelinguistique-beta.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/23362/la-ponctuation/guillemets/guillemets-iteratifs|title=Banque de dépannage linguistique: Guillemets itératifs | publisher= [[Office québécois de la langue française]] | language=fr | trans-title= Linguistic help desk: Iterative quotes | access-date= 31 May 2022}}</ref> For Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there is the specific [[Unicode]] character {{unichar|3003|DITTO MARK}} in the range [[CJK Symbols and Punctuation]]. This facilitates the setting of both marks on a single horizontal line in Asian vertical text. 

In China the corresponding historical mark was two horizontal lines {{char|𠄠}} (Unicode {{Unichar|16FE3|Old Chinese Iteration Mark}}), which is also the ancient ideograph of "two", similar to the modern ideograph {{char|二}}. It is found in [[bronze script]] from the [[Zhou dynasty]], as in the example at right ({{Circa|825 BCE}}). In [[seal script]] form this became {{char|〻}}, and is now written as {{char|々}}; see [[iteration mark]].
[[File:Kakaw (Mayan word).png|alt=The word "kakaw" (Mayan for "cacao") written in the Maya script.|thumb|The word ''kakaw'' (Mayan for [[Cocoa bean|cacao]]) written in the [[Maya script]]. The two dots near the fish's mouth indicate its ''ka'' sound is meant to be read twice.]]
In the [[Maya script]], a pair of small dots may appear above or in front of a glyph to indicate that it should be read twice. This duplication [[diacritic]] functions as a phonetic doubling device, typically applied to syllabic signs. For example, the Maya word ''kakaw'' ("[[Cocoa bean|cacao]]") can be written with a ''ka'' sign marked by two small prefixed dots, signaling that it be read as ''ka-ka'', followed by ''wa''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mora-Marín |first=David F. |date=2024 |title=The duplication diacritic: A case study of variation and change in Mayan writing |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/abs/duplication-diacritic-a-case-study-of-variation-and-change-in-mayan-writing/60A73BBB48773A15908A29B834273843 |journal=Ancient Mesoamerica |language=en |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=562–587 |doi=10.1017/S0956536123000317|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stuart |first=David |date=2014-02-25 |title=“Hieroglyphic Miscellany” from 1990 |url=https://mayadecipherment.com/2014/02/25/hieroglyphic-miscellany-from-1990/ |access-date=2025-05-06 |website=Maya Decipherment}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Wiktionary|ditto}}
*{{anli|Dittography}}
*{{anli|Ibid.}}
*{{anli|Iteration mark}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Wiktionary-inline|ditto}}
*[[:fr:Guillemet#Répétition|Guillemet § Répétition]] at [[French Wikipedia]]

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[[Category:Typographical symbols]]