middle dot

noun

"middle-dot" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“middle dot” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
10
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Synonym of interpunct ⟨·⟩.

Corpus desk

Index EN-middle-dot · middle dot · English

middle dot · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for middle dot
PropertyValue
Headwordmiddle dot
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters10
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “middle dot” in English

middle dotranks outside the top 100,000 English headwords, in the long tail of specialist, archaic, or seldom-used vocabulary, exactly the territory where a reader stops mid-sentence to double-check spelling.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

middle dot is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for middle dot, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is middle dot, spelled M-I-D-D-L-E- -D-O-T.

Definition

  1. 1
    Synonym of interpunct ⟨·⟩.
  2. 2
    Synonym of middle point ⟨⸳⟩.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how middle dot appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The Greek manuscripts of later date show a system more like that now employed. About the ninth century the comma appears to denote the slight pause, while the high dot (·) indicates a colon or semicolon, and the full stop is denoted by a larger dot or double dot and a space. A little later the interrogation point (;) appears, though not very frequently. T…
  2. At the end of a complete sentence (Latin periodus), the speaker paused to take on air, and that pause was sometimes indicated with a high dot ·. A speaker might also pause when he had covered a large portion of a sentence − a member; in Latin this was a colon, the same word used for the “great gut.” If such a pause were indicated at all in writing, it was…

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "middle dot"?
"middle dot" is spelled M-I-D-D-L-E- -D-O-T.
What does "middle dot" mean?
As a noun, "middle dot" means: Synonym of interpunct ⟨·⟩.
What language does "middle dot" come from?
"middle dot" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list