Kropka

Kropka is a Polish noun meaning a dot or small round mark. In everyday use it refers to a tiny circular point as well as to a punctuation mark that ends a sentence. In Polish typography the punctuation is commonly called kropka, with distinctions such as kropka końcowa (period/full stop) and kropka w liczbie w skrótach like in abbreviations.

In writing and typography, the word appears in contexts beyond punctuation. It denotes the general concept of a dot, including marks used for emphasis, bullets, or decorative patterns such as kropki (dots) in a design. The term is also used in mathematical and technical language to describe a symbol that resembles a small dot.

In mathematics and computing, kropka can refer to the dot symbol used for multiplication or for the dot product (a · b). It is also the spoken name for the decimal point in contexts where the period is shown as a dot, though in standard Polish the decimal separator is typically a comma. In digital contexts, kropka appears frequently in domain names and file extensions (for example, example.com or file.txt), where the dot is read as “kropka.”

The word forms a feminine noun (singular kropka, plural kropki). Its usage spans language, mathematics, and information technology, reflecting the common visual of a small round mark in both text and symbols. See also full stop, decimal point, dot, and polka dot.