Asterisk

The asterisk (*) is a snowflake-like typographic symbol or glyph.^[1]

It is so-called because it looks like an image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often speak it as star. Example: the A* search algorithm.

In English, an asterisk is usually five-pointed or six-pointed in typefaces, and six- or eight-pointed when handwritten. It can be used as censorship. It is also used on the internet to correct one's spelling, in which case it appears after the correct word.

References

↑ from Greek: ἀστερίσκος, asteriskos, "little star" ἀστερίσκος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus.

[1] rom Greek: ἀστερίσκος, asteriskos, "little star" ἀστερίσκος, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus.

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