asteriskos

Asteriskos is a Greek term meaning “little star.” In modern usage, it refers to the asterisk symbol () and to the mark’s role in writing, printing, and editing. The word underscores the symbol’s star-like shape and its function as a marker or pointer to something else.

Etymology and form: The English word asterisk comes from Latin asteriscus, which in turn derives from Greek asterískos (often rendered as asteriskos in modern Greek). The diminutive sense is preserved in both languages, highlighting the symbol’s small, star-like mark used to attract attention or indicate special information.

Typographic and editorial use: In typography, the asterisk marks footnotes and endnotes, corrections or insertions, and sometimes censorship or hidden material. It can indicate a cross-reference or an exception, and in dictionaries, it may flag etymologies, proposed forms, or uncertain readings. In editing, an asterisk can signal that something is tentative, disputed, or reconstructed.

Computing, mathematics, and markup: In computing and programming, the asterisk functions as a multiplication operator, a pointer dereference symbol in languages like C, or a variadic argument indicator in some contexts. In shell and file systems, it is used as a wildcard to match multiple characters. In regular expressions, the asterisk denotes zero or more repetitions of the preceding element. In many markup systems (for example, Markdown), asterisks indicate emphasis or bold formatting when surrounding text.

Linguistics and notation: A leading asterisk is used to flag ungrammatical forms or hypothetical reconstructions in linguistic notation. It can also indicate that an example is dubious, rejected, or not attested. Overall, asteriskos and its symbol play a versatile role across language, science, and technology as a compact sign of reference, emphasis, or placeholder.