backslash

See also: back slash

English

Alternative forms

• back slash

Etymology

From back +‎ slash, because it is a slash “leaning back” against the direction of writing (in writing lines from left to right), in contrast to the more common (forward) slash / (“solidus, oblique, diagonal”). The actual direction of (hand-)writing these marks can be reversed, when writing from left to right, top to baseline: the backslash forwards, the (forward) slash backwards. The naming can be explained as an anthropomorphism, assuming a bar (|) standing on the baseline, facing in the direction of writing, toppling backwards or forwards, respectively. The (new) Unicode name of \ is REVERSE SOLIDUS.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbækˌslæʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æʃ

Noun

backslash (plural backslashes)

1. The punctuation mark \.

   Synonyms: backward slash, reverse solidus, slosh, whack

   Coordinate term: slash

2. (computing, rare, proscribed) Used erroneously in reference to, or in reading out, the ordinary slash, that is, the punctuation mark /.
   • 2001, James T. Bretzke, Bibliography on East Asian Religion and Philosophy, Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN, page 455:

     […] I was trying to find a web-site for which I had been given the following address: http://www.isop.ucla.edu/pacrim/pubs/korjournal.htm. […] I began to work backwards, removing first the last part of the address following the last backslash (/korjournal.htm).

   • 2010, Lee Vance, The Garden of Betrayal, Random House, published 2011, →ISBN, page 25:

     “So, do what I tell you. Open a browser window and type this in the menu^[sic] bar: F-T-P colon backslash backslash euronews dot net backslash...”
     I pecked carefully at the keyboard as he dictated a URL that was about fifty characters long, […]

   • 2010, Frank Barnas, Ted White, Broadcast News Writing, Reporting, and Producing, Fifth Edition, Elsevier, →ISBN, page 114:

     Also, avoid submenus^[sic] that can confuse the audience—if you're giving lengthy Web site addresses full of backslashes, shorten it so only the Web site's home page is given.

Usage notes

• Sometimes used to indicate the beginning and ending of an area of words being marked for correction.

Translations

punctuation mark

Arabic: مَائِلَة مُعَاكِسَة f (māʔila muʕākisa) Bulgarian: обра́тна черта́ f (obrátna čertá) Chinese: Mandarin: 反斜線 / 反斜线 (zh) (fǎnxiéxiàn), 反斜槓 / 反斜杠 (zh) (fǎnxiégàng) Czech: zpětné lomítko n Dutch: backslash (nl) m, terugschrap m, omgekeerde schuine streep f, schuine streep naar links f, schuine streep naar achter f, terugstreep f Esperanto: deklivo Estonian: kurakaldkriips (et), längkriips (et), kurakriips (et), Faroese: bakskák n Finnish: kenoviiva (fi) French: barre oblique inversée (fr) f, contre-oblique (fr) f, backslash (fr) m, antislash (fr) m German: Backslash (de) m, Rückwärtsschrägstrich m Greek: αντιπλάγια (el) f (antiplágia), ανάστροφη κάθετος f (anástrofi káthetos) Hungarian: fordított törtvonal Italian: barra inversa f Japanese: バックスラッシュ (ja) (bakkusurasshu), 逆斜線 (ぎゃくしゃせん, gyakushasen) Korean: 역슬래시 (yeokseullaesi), 역사선(逆斜線) (yeoksaseon) Latvian: please add this translation if you can Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: лева коса црта f (leva kosa crta) Maltese: sinjal djagonali Norwegian: Bokmål: bakstrek m Polish: ukośnik odwrotny m, ukośnik wsteczny m, ukośnik lewy m, Portuguese: barra invertida f, barra inversa (pt) f, contrabarra f Romanian: bară oblică inversă f, linie oblică inversă f (nonstandard) Russian: обра́тная коса́я f (obrátnaja kosája), обра́тная коса́я черта́ f (obrátnaja kosája čertá), обра́тный слэш m (obrátnyj slɛš), бе́кслэ́ш m (békslɛ́š) Slovak: spätná lomka f, opačná lomka f Slovene: leva poševnica f Spanish: barra inversa f, barra oblicua inversa f, barra invertida f, barra revertida f, contrabarra (es) f Thai: แบ็กสแลช Turkish: ters bölü Ukrainian: обе́рнена скісна́ ри́ска f (obérnena skisná rýska), бе́кслеш m (béksleš)

Verb

backslash (third-person singular simple present backslashes, present participle backslashing, simple past and past participle backslashed)

1. (computing, transitive) To escape (a metacharacter) by prepending a backslash that serves as an escape character, thereby forming an escape sequence.

See also

• backslash on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Typography

• ampersand ( & )
• asterisk ( * ) and asterism ( ⁂ )
• at sign ( @ )
• backslash ( \ )
• bullet ( • )
• dagger ( † ‡ )
• degree symbol ( ° )
• number sign ( # )
• prime ( ′ )
• tilde ( ~ )
• underscore ( _ )
• vertical bar/pipe ( | )

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English backslash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɛkslɛʃ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: back‧slash

Noun

backslash m (plural backslashes or backslashen, diminutive backslashje n)

1. backslash

Synonyms

• omgekeerde schuine streep
• schuine streep naar achter
• schuine streep naar links
• terugschrap
• terugstreep