ampersand
/ˈæm.pə(ɹ).sænd/noun, verb
ampersand is spelled A-M-P-E-R-S-A-N-D: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 79,518th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, ampersand means “The symbol "&"” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ampersand is ampersands.
How many letters and syllables are in ampersand?
| Letters | 9: A-M-P-E-R-S-A-N-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 7 million words; the 79,518th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ampersand?
Ampersand appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 79,518th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ampersand?
- UK /ˈæm.pə(ɹ).sænd/
- UK /ˈæmp.ə(ɹ)ˌzænd/
Ampersand has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ampersand.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-ampersand.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of ampersand
- ampersands plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- ampersanding participle, present
- ampersanded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ampersand mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The symbol "&".
The ampersand character in many logics acts as an operator connecting two propositions.
verb
- 1
rareTo add an ampersand to.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate ampersand?
Wiktionary records 2 abbreviations of ampersand: amp, amper.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ampersand in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense the symbol &:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | esperluette, esperluète, perluète, et commercial |
| German | Et-Zeichen, Kaufmanns-Und |
| Portuguese | e comercial, sinal tironiano |
| Spanish | y comercial, et, ampersand |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ampersand come from?
A mondegreen of and per se and, ⟨&⟩ being read as “and”. Letters used by themselves were formerly mentioned according to this pattern, as in “O per se O” for the particle O or “I per se I” for the pronoun I. “And per se and” thus meant ⟨&⟩ by itself, as opposed to forms such as &c. The specific form ampersand is first attested in 1795, originally as a mocking pronunciation spelling, but this name for the symbol is attested since 1777 (as ampuse and), when it is already called common (see quotations).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).