Asterism (typography)

In typography, an asterism, ⁂, is a typographic symbol consisting of three asterisks placed in a triangle, and is a type of dinkus.

⁂
Asterism (typography)
In UnicodeU+2042 ⁂ ASTERISM (HTML ⁂)
Different from
Different fromU+0B83 ஃ TAMIL SIGN VISARGA
U+2234 ∴ THEREFORE
U+2235 ∵ BECAUSE

The name originates from the astronomical term for a group of stars[1] Nowadays the symbol is used rarely and is nearly obsolete.[2] Its purpose is to "indicate minor breaks in text",[3] to call attention to a passage, or to separate sub-chapters in a book.

Asterisms in James Joyce Ulysses, the "Wandering Rocks" chapter, from the 1922 edition. The 1961 edition used a hollow white star (☆), and the 1984 edition used a dinkus (***).

In more recent texts, a row of three or more asterisks, or three or more dots, are more common.[2] Otherwise, an extra space between paragraphs is used. An asterism or its analogue may be used in conjunction with the extra space to mark a smaller subdivision than a sub-chapter.

It can also be used to mean "untitled" or author or title withheld – as seen, for example, in some editions of Album for the Young by composer Robert Schumann (№ 21, 26, and 30).[4]

In meteorology, an asterism in a station model indicates moderate snowfall.[5][6]

Dinkus

A dinkus is a typographical device to divide text, such as at section breaks. An asterism is sometimes used for this purpose. Another common dinkus is three asterisks or three dots in a horizontal row.[7][8] A small black and white drawing[9] or a fleuron (❧)[8] may be used for the same purpose.

Among older Hungarian Americans and Polish Americans, the word is an archaic term for Easter Monday.[10]

gollark: You could look at the UCAS website. It's the application system for basically all UK university stuff and there's some info there.
gollark: Oh. Hmm. You probably do need to know that.
gollark: No advice on subject choice since I'm bad at making decisions (I only have to apply *next* year personally so I can put it off).
gollark: It may not be exactly 9% actually but around that sort of figure.
gollark: You do apparently need to apply quite soon, though, unless you wait until next year or something.

See also

References
  1. From the Greek astēr (star) Alexander Humez, Nicholas D. Humez (2008). On the Dot: The Speck That Changed the World, p. 72 & 186n. ISBN 978-0-19-532499-0.
  2. Radim Peško, Louis Lüthi (2007). Dot Dot Dot 13, p. 193. Stuart Bailey, Peter Bilak, eds. ISBN 978-90-77620-07-6.
  3. Hudson, Robert (2010). The Christian Writer's Manual of Style. p. 396. ISBN 978-0-310-86136-2.
  4. Taruskin, Richard (2005). The Oxford history of western music, Volume 3, p. 311. ISBN 978-0-19-516979-9.
  5. Ahrens, C. Donald (2011). Essentials of meteorology: an invitation to the atmosphere (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. p. 461. ISBN 9780840049339. OCLC 651905769.
  6. "Station Model Information for Weather Observations". National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center. Retrieved 2019-07-16.
  7. Lundmark, Torbjorn (2002). Quirky Qwerty: the story of the keyboard @ your fingertips. University of New South Wales. p. 120. ISBN 9780868404363.
  8. David Crystal (2016). Making a Point: The Pernickety Story of English Punctuation. London Profile Books. ISBN 9781781253519.
  9. James Phillip McAuley (1964). "Quadrant". 8. H.R. Krygier: 33. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. Elizabeth Hafkin Pleck (2001). Celebrating the Family: Ethnicity, Consumer Culture, and Family Rituals. Harvard University Press. p. 90. ISBN 9780674002302.
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