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DictionaryRoot: apo-
Greek

apo-

away, off, from

Forms

  • apo-
  • ap- — Used before a vowel without an initial h sound in Greek.
  • aph- — Used before a vowel that began with an h sound in Greek.

Origin

Reconstructed Proto-Indo-European *apo, ‘off; away.’

Note

Separation can identify either a departure or the source something comes from.

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noun

apostrophe

uh-PAH-struh-fee/əˈpɑːstrəfi/

A punctuation mark showing possession or omitted letters.

The raised curved mark is an apostrophe.

One clearly recognizable raised curved apostrophe punctuation mark cast as a small black typographic object, no other text.
Etymology
apoGreekaway, off, from
+stropheGreekto turn

The image of “turning away” became a name for a mark indicating an omitted letter. Its possessive use often marked the missing e in -es, then spread to possessives without that omission.

In context

RobWords16:45
the punctuation mark the apostrophe, which still marks where some letters have been missed out, as it always has done.
Where does punctuation come from?!

More examples

  • She added an apostrophe to show possession.
  • The sign misplaced its apostrophe.
  • An apostrophe should not appear in that ordinary plural.

Forms

apostrophe · apostrophes

Similar words

comma
A comma separates sentence elements at the baseline; an apostrophe is raised and marks possession or omission.
quotation mark
Quotation marks enclose quoted material; an apostrophe serves different grammatical purposes.