Theellipsis (/əˈlɪpsɪs/, pluralellipses; fromAncient Greek:ἔλλειψις,élleipsis,lit.'leave out'[1]), rendered..., also known assuspension points[2]: 19 dots,points[2]: 19 periods of ellipsis, orellipsis points,[2]: 19 orcolloquially,dot-dot-dot,[3][4] is apunctuation mark consisting of a series of three dots. An ellipsis can be used in many ways, such as for intentional omission of text or numbers, to imply a concept without using words,[1] or to mark a pause in speech. Style guides differ on how to render an ellipsis both digitally and in print. In some cases, an ellipsis may have four or more dots, spaced dots, or some incorporation with other punctuation.
Opinions differ on how to render an ellipsis in printed material and are to some extent based on the technology used for rendering. According toThe Chicago Manual of Style, it should consist of threeperiods, each separated from its neighbor by anon-breaking space:. . ..[5] According to theAP Stylebook, the periods should be rendered with no space between them:....[6] A third option – available in electronic text – is to use theprecomposed characterU+2026…HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS.[7]
When text is omitted following a sentence, a period (full stop) terminates the sentence, and a subsequent ellipsis indicates one or more omitted sentences before continuing a longer quotation.Business Insider magazine suggests this style[8] and it is also used in manyacademic journals. TheAssociated Press Stylebook favors this approach.[9]
When a sentence ends with ellipsis, some style guides indicate there should be four dots; three for ellipsis and a period.Chicago advises it,[10] as does thePublication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA style),[11] while some other style guides do not; theMerriam-Webster Dictionary and related works treat this style as optional, saying that it "may" be used.[12]
In her book on the ellipsis,Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission, Anne Toner suggests that the first use of the punctuation in the English language dates to a 1588 translation ofTerence'sAndria, byMaurice Kyffin.[3] In this case, however, the ellipsis consists not of dots but of short dashes.[13] "Subpuncting" ofmedieval manuscripts also denotes omitted meaning and may be related.[14]
The popularity of the ellipsis took off after Kyffin's usage; there were three examples in his 1588 translation ofAndria, but the 1627 translation of the same play had 29.[15] They appear inWilliam Shakespeare's plays in addition toBen Jonson's.[15] In 1634, John Barton, an English schoolmaster, wrote inThe Art of Rhetorick that "eclipsis" is much used in playbooks "where they are noted thus ---".[15] In the first folio edition of Shakespeare'sHenry IV, Part 1, Toner writes, "Hotspur dies on a dash", with his last words cut short.[15]
Occasionally, it would be used inpulp fiction and other works of early 20th-century fiction to denote expletives that would otherwise have been censored.[16]
An ellipsis may also imply an unstated alternative indicated by context. For example, "I never drink wine ..." implies that the speaker does drink something else—such as vodka.[citation needed]
In reported speech, the ellipsis can be used to represent an intentional silence.[citation needed]
In poetry, an ellipsis is used as a thought-pause orline break at thecaesura[17] or this is used to highlightsarcasm or make the reader think about the last points in the poem.
In news reporting, often put inside squarebrackets, it is used to indicate that a quotation has been condensed for space, brevity or relevance, as in "The President said that [...] he would not be satisfied", where the exact quotation was "The President said that, for as long as this situation continued, he would not be satisfied".[citation needed]
Herb Caen, Pulitzer-prize-winning columnist for theSan Francisco Chronicle, became famous for his "three-dot journalism".[18]
Depending on context, ellipsis can indicate an unfinished thought, a leading statement, a slightpause, an echoing voice, or a nervous or awkward silence.Aposiopesis is the use of an ellipsis to trail off into silence—for example: "But I thought he was..." When placed at the end of a sentence, an ellipsis may be used to suggest melancholy or longing.[19]
In newspaper and magazine columns, ellipses may separate items of a list instead of paragraph breaks.[2]: 21
Merriam-Webster'sManual for Writers and Editors uses a line of ellipsis to indicate omission of whole lines in a quoted poem.[2]: 147
The Chicago Manual of Style suggests the use of an ellipsis for any omitted word, phrase, line, or paragraph from within but not at the end of a quoted passage. There are two commonly used methods of using ellipses: one uses three dots for any omission, while the second one makes a distinction between omissions within a sentence (using three dots: . . .) and omissions between sentences (using a period and a space followed by three dots: . ...). TheChicago StyleQ&A recommends that writers avoid using the precomposed characterU+2026…HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS in manuscripts and to place three periods plus two non-breaking spaces (. . .) instead, leaving the editor, publisher, or typographer to replace them later.[20]
TheModern Language Association (MLA) used to indicate that an ellipsis must include spaces before and after each dot in all uses. Iftekhar Ahmed an ellipsis is meant to represent an omission,square brackets must surround the ellipsis to make it clear that there was no pause in the original quote:[ . . . ]. Currently, the MLA has removed the requirement of brackets in its style handbooks. However, some maintain that the use of brackets is still correct because it clears confusion.[21]
The MLA now indicates that a three-dot, spaced ellipsis . . . should be used for removing material from within one sentence within a quote. When crossing sentences (when the omitted text contains a period, so that omitting the end of a sentence counts), a four-dot, spaced (except for before the first dot) ellipsis. . . . should be used. When ellipsis points are used in the original text, ellipsis points that are not in the original text should be distinguished by enclosing them in square brackets (e.g.text [...] text).[22][23]
According to the Associated Press, the ellipsis should be used to condense quotations. It is less commonly used to indicate a pause in speech or an unfinished thought or to separate items in material such as show business gossip. The stylebook indicates that if the shortened sentence before the mark can stand as a sentence, it should do so, with an ellipsis placed after the period or other ending punctuation. When material is omitted at the end of a paragraph and also immediately following it, an ellipsis goes both at the end of that paragraph and at the beginning of the next, according to this style.[24]
According to Robert Bringhurst'sElements of Typographic Style, the details of typesetting ellipses depend on the character and size of the font being set and the typographer's preference. Bringhurst writes that a full space between each dot is "another Victorian eccentricity. In most contexts, the Chicago ellipsis is much too wide"—he recommends using flush dots (with a normal word space before and after), orthin-spaced dots (up to one-fifth of anem), or the prefabricated ellipsis characterU+2026…HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS (…, …). Bringhurst suggests that normally an ellipsis should be spaced fore-and-aft to separate it from the text, but when it combines with other punctuation, the leading space disappears and the other punctuation follows. This is the usual practice in typesetting. He provides the following examples:
i ... jk....l..., ll, ... lm...?n...!
In legal writing in the United States, Rule 5.3 in theBluebook citation guide governs the use of ellipses and requires a space before the first dot and between the two subsequent dots. If an ellipsis ends the sentence, then there are three dots, each separated by a space, followed by the final punctuation (e.g.Hah . . . ?). In some legal writing, an ellipsis is written as threeasterisks,*** or* * *, to make it obvious that text has been omitted or to signal that the omitted text extends beyond the end of the paragraph.
TheOxford Style Guide recommends setting the ellipsis as a single character… or as a series of three (narrow) spaced dots surrounded by spaces, thus:.... If there is an ellipsis at the end of an incomplete sentence, the final full stop is omitted. However, it is retained if the following ellipsis represents an omission between two complete sentences.[25]
The ... fox jumps ... The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ... And if they have not died, they are still alive today. It is not cold ... it is freezing cold.
Contrary toThe Oxford Style Guide, theUniversity of Oxford Style Guide demands an ellipsis not to be surrounded by spaces, except when it stands for a pause; then, a space has to be set after the ellipsis (but not before), and it states that an ellipsis should never be preceded or followed by a full stop.[26]
The...fox jumps... The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog...And if they have not died, they are still alive today. It is not cold... it is freezing cold.
When applied inPolish syntax, the ellipsis is calledwielokropek, literally "multidot". The wordwielokropek distinguishes the ellipsis of Polish syntax from that ofmathematical notation, in which it is known as anelipsa. When an ellipsis replaces a fragment omitted from a quotation, the ellipsis is enclosed in parentheses or square brackets. An unbracketed ellipsis indicates an interruption or pause in speech. The syntactic rules for ellipses are standardized by the 1983 Polska Norma documentPN-83/P-55366,Zasady składania tekstów w języku polskim (Rules for Setting Texts in Polish).[citation needed]
The combination "ellipsis+period" is replaced by the ellipsis. The combinations "ellipsis+exclamation mark" and "ellipsis+question mark" are written in this way: "!.. ?.."[citation needed]
The most common character corresponding to an ellipsis is called3-ten rīdā ("3-dot leaders",…). 2-ten rīdā exists as a character, but it is used less commonly. In writing, the ellipsis consists usually of six dots (two3-ten rīdā characters,……). Three dots (one3-ten rīdā character) may be used where space is limited, such as in a header. However, variations in the number of dots exist. In horizontally written text the dots are commonly vertically centered within the text height (between thebaseline and the ascent line), as in the standard JapaneseWindows fonts; in vertically written text the dots are always centered horizontally. As the Japanese word for dot is pronounced "ten", the dots are colloquially called "ten-ten-ten" (てんてんてん, akin to the English "dot dot dot").[27][28]
In text in Japanese media, such as inmanga or video games, ellipses are much more frequent than in English, and are often changed to another punctuation sign in translation. The ellipsis by itself represents speechlessness, or a "pregnant pause". Depending on the context, this could be anything from an admission of guilt to an expression of being dumbfounded at another person's words or actions.[29] As a device, theten-ten-ten is intended to focus the reader on a character while allowing the character to not speak any dialogue. This conveys to the reader a focus of the narrative "camera" on the silent subject, implying an expectation of some motion or action. It is not unheard of to see inanimate objects "speaking" the ellipsis.[citation needed]
InChinese, the ellipsis is six dots (in two groups of three dots, occupying the same horizontal or vertical space as two characters). In horizontally written text the dots are commonly vertically centered along the midline (halfway between the Roman descent and Roman ascent, or equivalently halfway between the Romanbaseline and the capital height, i.e.⋯⋯). This is generally true ofTraditional Chinese, whileSimplified Chinese tends to have the ellipses aligned with the baseline;[30] in vertically written text the dots are always centered horizontally (i.e.Chinese:︙︙).[31] Taiwan and China have different punctuation standards.[30]
InSpanish, the ellipsis is commonly used as a substitute ofet cetera at the end of unfinished lists. So it means "and so forth" or "and other things".[citation needed]
Other use is the suspension of a part of a text, or a paragraph, or a phrase or a part of a word because it is obvious, or unnecessary, or implied. For instance, sometimes the ellipsis is used to avoid the complete use of expletives.[citation needed]
When the ellipsis is placed alone into aparenthesis (...) or—less often—betweenbrackets [...], which is what happens usually within a texttranscription, it means the original text had more contents on the same position but are not useful to our target in the transcription. When the suppressed text is at the beginning or at the end of a text, the ellipsis does not need to be placed in a parenthesis.[citation needed]
The number of dots is three and only three.[32] They should have no space in between them nor with the preceding word, but there should be a space with the following word (except if they are followed by a punctuation sign, such as a comma).[32]
InFrench, the ellipsis is commonly used at the end of lists to representet cetera. In French typography, the ellipsis is written immediately after the preceding word, but has a space after it, for example:comme ça... pas comme ceci. If, exceptionally, it begins a sentence, there is a space before and after, for example:Lui ? ... vaut rien, je crois.... However, any omitted word, phrase or line at the end of a quoted passage would be indicated as follows: [...] (space before and after the square brackets but not inside), for example:... à Paris, Nice, Nantes, Toulouse [...].[citation needed]
InGerman, the ellipsis in general is surrounded by spaces, if it stands for one or more omitted words. On the other side there is no space between a letter or (part of) a word and an ellipsis, if it stands for one or more omitted letters, that should stick to the written letter or letters.
Example for both cases, using German style:The first el...is stands for omitted letters, the second ... for an omitted word.
If the ellipsis is at the end of a sentence, the final full stop is omitted.[33]
TheAccademia della Crusca suggests the use of an ellipsis ("puntini di sospensione") to indicate a pause longer than a period and, when placed between brackets, the omission of letters, words or phrases.[34]
"Tra le cose più preziose possedute da Andrea Sperelli era una coperta di seta fina, d'un colore azzurro disfatto, intorno a cui giravano i dodici segni dello Zodiaco in ricamo, con le denominazioni […] a caratteri gotici." (Gabriele D'Annunzio,Il piacere)[35]
An ellipsis is used inmathematics to mean "and so forth", usually indicating the omission of terms that follow an obvious pattern as indicated by included terms.[36]
The whole numbers from 1 to 100 can be shown as:
The positive whole numbers, an infinite list, can be shown as:
To indicate omitted terms in a repeated operation, an ellipsis is sometimes raised from the baseline, as:[2]: 115
But, this raised formatting is not standard. For example, Russian mathematical texts use the baseline format.[37]
An ellipsis is sometimes used as the label for a button to access user interface that has been omitted – probably due to space limitations – particularly inmobile apps running on small screen devices. This may be described as a "more button".[40]
Similar functionality may be accessible via a button with ahamburger icon (≡) or a narrow version called thekebab icon which is avertical ellipsis (⋮).
According to some style guides, amenu item orbutton labeled with a trailing ellipsis requests an operation that cannot be completed without additional information and selecting it will prompt the user for input.[41] Without an ellipsis, selecting the item or button will perform an action without user input.
For example, the menu item "Save" overwrites an existing file whereas "Save as..." prompts the user for save options before saving.
Ellipsis is commonly used to indicate that a longer-lasting operation is in progress like "Loading...", "Saving...".[citation needed]
Sometimes progress is animated with an ellipse-like construct of repeatedly adding dots to a label in a manner similar to aprogress bar.[citation needed]
In text-based communications, the ellipsis may indicate:
Floor holding, signal that more is to come, for instance when people break up longer turns in chat.[42]
Politeness, for instance indicating topic change or hesitation.[43]
Turn construction unit to signal silence, for example when indicating disagreement, disapproval or confusion.[44]
Although an ellipsis is complete with three periods (...), an ellipsis-like construct with more dots is used to indicate "trailing-off" or "silence".[45] The extent of repetition in itself might serve as an additional contextualization or paralinguistic cue; one paper wrote that they "extend the lexical meaning of the words, add character to the sentences, and allow fine-tuning and personalisation of the message".[46]
While composing a text message, some environments show others in the conversation atyping awareness indicator ellipsis to indicate remote activity.[47]
Unicode defines the following ellipsis characters:
U+2026…HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
U+0EAFຯLAO ELLIPSIS
U+1801᠁MONGOLIAN ELLIPSIS
U+0E2FฯTHAI CHARACTER PAIYANNOI
U+22EE⋮VERTICAL ELLIPSIS
U+22EF⋯MIDLINE HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
U+22F0⋰UP RIGHT DIAGONAL ELLIPSIS
U+22F1⋱DOWN RIGHT DIAGONAL ELLIPSIS
U+FE19︙PRESENTATION FORM FOR VERTICAL HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS
Unicode recognizes a series of threeperiod characters (U+002E.FULL STOP) ascompatibility equivalent (though not canonical) to the horizontal ellipsis character.[48]
InHTML, the horizontal ellipsis character may be represented by the entity reference… (since HTML 4.0), and the vertical ellipsis character by the entity reference⋮ (since HTML 5.0).[49] Alternatively, in HTML,XML, andSGML, anumeric character reference such as… or… can be used.
Note thatISO/IEC 8859 encoding series provides no code point for ellipsis.
As with all characters, especially those outside theASCII range, the author, sender and receiver of an encoded ellipsis must be in agreement upon what bytes are being used to represent the character. Naive text processing software may improperly assume that a particular encoding is being used, resulting inmojibake.
In Windows using a suitable code page,U+2026…HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS can be inserted withAlt+0133, using the numeric keypad.
In macOS, it can be inserted with⌥ Opt+; (on an English language keyboard).
In some Linux distributions, it can be inserted withAltGr+. (this produces aninterpunct on other systems), orCompose...
In Android, ellipsis is a long-press key. IfGboard is in alphanumeric layout, change to numeric and special characters layout by pressing?123 from alphanumeric layout. Once in numeric and special characters layout, long press. key to insert an ellipsis.
InChinese and sometimes inJapanese, ellipsis characters are made by entering two consecutivehorizontal ellipses, each withUnicode code point U+2026. In vertical texts, the application should rotate the symbol accordingly.
Dinkus – Typographic device ( * * * ) to indicate a change – a row of three dots (usually widely separated) alone in the middle of a gap between two paragraphs, to indicate a sub-chapter.
Anem dash— is sometimes used instead of an ellipsis, especially in written dialogue.
Elision – Omission of sounds in words or phrases. In written text, this is sometimes denoted using the horizontal ellipsis.
^abcToner, Anne (2015).Ellipsis in English Literature: Signs of Omission. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 151.. According to Toner it is difficult to establish when the "dot dot dot" phrase was first used. There is an early instance, which is perhaps the first in a piece of fiction, inVirginia Woolf's short story "An Unwritten Novel" (1920).
^"秋元順子、古希に得意のダジャレ 「あまり"コキ"使わないでください」" [Junko Akimoto used puns she was good at on Koki: "Please don't push me around too much."].SANSPO.COM. SANKEI DIGITAL Inc. 5 June 2017.Archived from the original on 9 March 2019. Retrieved10 January 2018.
^"語尾が「…」ばかり「三点リーダー症候群」 相手のせいにするズルさも" [The ending is just "..." "Three-point leader syndrome"].NEWSポストセブン. 15 January 2021. Retrieved27 March 2022.
^"Deutsche Rechtschreibung. Regeln und Wörterverzeichnis"(PDF) (in German). Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung. 2010. p. 100.Archived(PDF) from the original on 26 April 2017. Retrieved18 October 2015.$ 100: Stehen die Auslassungspunkte am Ende eines Ganzsatzes, so setzt man keinen Satzschlusspunkt.
^Simpson, J (2005). "Meaning-making online: Discourse and CMC in a Language learning community".Recent Research Developments in Learning Technologies.CiteSeerX10.1.1.108.463.
Halliday, M. A. K.; Ruqayia, H. (1976).Cohesion in English. English Language series, no. 9 (1st ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.ISBN0582550416.OCLC817215597. Retrieved14 August 2025.
Morris, William (1980).The Houghton Mifflin Canadian Dictionary of the English Language. Markham, Ontario: Houghton Mifflin Canada. p. 424 (spacing of dots: . . .).ISBN978-0-395-29654-7.OCLC8063090.
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