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I searched ~ spelling and ~ symbol spelling on Google but found nothing. My dictionary doesn't contain ~ either.

P.S.: is there any online dictionary that can translate symbols? I find I know almost nothing about the symbols. Even in my native language, I say /\ or something else tilted stick. I don't know which is slash, and which is backslash.

Jasper
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Mithril
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  • Related (but not a duplicate) [What is the name for these keys on a computer keyboard?](http://ell.stackexchange.com/q/84624) – ColleenV Jan 06 '17 at 12:27
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    If it makes you feel any better, a lot of Americans don't seem to know which one is slash and which one is backslash either! I hear people get it wrong all the time. (Slash is **/**. It's the one that's more natural for a right-handed person to make.) – stangdon Jan 06 '17 at 12:45
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    If it helps, in the UK at least we call `/` _forward_ slash. and `\ ` _back_ slash. This is easier to remember as you just look for the slash that is leaning forwards or backwards. – squarefrog Jan 06 '17 at 12:49
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    Actually it's very easy to find out by yourself: just _describe_ the character, don't type it: [`curvy dash`](http://google.com/search?q=curvy+dash) was my very first attempt at this, and the first search result gave me the answer. – Ruslan Jan 06 '17 at 14:18
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    To make things even more complicated, there is more than one kind of "slash." At least 3 different symbols were condensed into the single slash character (back in the days of manual typewriters, where the number of keys had to be limited.) See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_(punctuation). In these days of Unicode and electronic publishing, pedants (like me) will notice incorrect usage. So I applaud the OP's curiosity. – Syntax Junkie Jan 06 '17 at 16:32
  • Also, for symbols, sometimes using "name" instead of "spelling" in your search will give you better results, for example searching for `symbol '~' name`. Actually, tilde seems particularly difficult to search for because it's used in the search engine syntax, but for other symbols my advice might be helpful. – ColleenV Jan 06 '17 at 16:32
  • @Mithril Another resource that might help you is symbolhound.com. It's a search engine that takes symbols into account, although it's not as good as google at finding relevant results. In google, searching for `~ spelling` is the same as just searching for `spelling` – Ben Sutton Jan 06 '17 at 21:14
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    to search it use a symbol search engine like http://symbolhound.com/, or better use https://unicodelookup.com/#~/1 or any Unicode name searching tool to find its name – phuclv Jan 07 '17 at 08:41
  • A good way to look up unicode character name without access to the internet is hitting `C-u C-x =` in Emacs text editor. For `~` it says: `name: TILDE` among other things. – Rotsor Jan 07 '17 at 12:53

2 Answers2

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I believe the symbol is known as a tilde

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilde

The Punctuation Guide is a good source of information for English punctuation and its usage, including what each symbol is called (though in this case it doesn't mention the tilde).

Typing the actual symbol into Google or Wikipedia also yields an accurate result.

[edit]

If you type a punctuation symbol into Wikipedia (such as tilde, above) it also returns a comprehensive list of other punctuation symbols, spellings, plus links to more detailed information on the right hand side of the page.

mike
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  • Thank you very much ! I didn't search the symbol alone on google , this is a very useful information ! And that Punctuation Guide is very helpful too, really help me a lot. – Mithril Jan 06 '17 at 11:34
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    Given that the question is also tagged reading-aloud it's worth noting that tilde is pronounced "till-da" and not "till-dee" – Ben Sutton Jan 06 '17 at 21:19
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    What about "squiggle"? – Dronz Jan 06 '17 at 21:39
  • @Mithril The google search just ignores most punctuation (for example, _ng-trx_ is the same as _ng trx_). As such, it is not a good tool to search about glyphs themselves! – Zachiel Jan 06 '17 at 22:15
  • @Zachiel: If you use the punctuation in a word or sentence, yes, it parses it as part of the word (or search - '-' can be used to instruct the search to ignore certain words for example). However if you type the punctuation mark into Google **on its own**, it does indeed return a [valid response](https://www.google.com/#safe=off&q=-). – mike Jan 07 '17 at 01:40
  • @BenSutton You might think to write "till-da" because it's the same sound as in "comma", but keep in mind that while that's normally true, "comma" may get a different "a" sound if you emphasise the word. "Tilde" never gets an "a" sound. – hvd Jan 07 '17 at 12:03
  • @hvd Good point. So maybe "till-duh"? – Ben Sutton Jan 09 '17 at 15:57
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The formal name for ~ is tilde.

Many programmers call it twiddle.

A slash or forward slash is /. If north is at the top of the page, it points southwest-to-northeast. It is tilted the same way that most right-handed people slant their writing, so it has a "forward" slant. Standard American keyboards have ? as Shift-/.

A whack or backslash is \. If north is at the top of the page, it points northwest-to-southeast. Standard American keyboards have | as Shift-\.

See also "What do programmers call these punctuation marks? (Parentheses, brackets, ticks, etc.)"

The ASCII entry in The New Hacker's Dictionary, as edited by Eric S. Raymond, includes English-language computer programming names for many common symbols.

Community
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Jasper
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    A little color on why programmers sometimes call a *tilde* a *twiddle*. The `~` symbol is one of several bitwise operators. Programmers use bitwise operators to perform *bit manipulation* or colloquially, *bit twiddling*. – Chris Betti Jan 07 '17 at 04:14
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    I'm not disputing programmers call the tilde a "twiddle" somewhere, but where? I've been programming about 15 years and this is the first time I've ever heard that :p. (Also never heard of *bit twiddling*, just *bit manipulation*) (The linked site seems sort of rediculous to me so if there's a joke I'm not getting I apologise!) – redstarcoder Jan 07 '17 at 16:22
  • @redstarcoder -- *The New Hacker's Dictionary* contains common programming jargon and in-jokes, especially from the first twenty years of the Arpanet/Internet. It was heavily influenced by the terms used at Stanford, Berkeley, Carnegie-Mellon, and MIT. I know that "twiddle" was how MIT hackers referred to "~" during the 1990s. – Jasper Jan 07 '17 at 19:36
  • I would say the jargon in that dictionary was common *maybe* 27 years ago (based on movies and stereotypes I know), but certainly not today. Thanks for the background though! – redstarcoder Jan 07 '17 at 21:14
  • It's still certainly in use, though now as much because it's in the jargon file than the other way around. – Jon Hanna Jan 08 '17 at 22:50
  • Add mathematicians to the groups that pronounce 'tilde' as 'twiddle.' It is sometimes used as a relational symbol. For example, writing A ~ B might formally mean A is similar/congruent/homomorphic to B, but when discussing casually, would be read as A twiddle B. – cobaltduck Mar 22 '19 at 12:53