Symbol Names in English

Features

• Symbol → English name, formal name plus common aliases
• Name → symbol (tilde, pipe, bang all work)
• Chinese names alongside, for cross-reference
• All 66 symbols sit in one searchable dropdown, findable by English or Chinese name — handy when you cannot type the symbol
• Empty input lists every symbol as a browsable table
• Formal and colloquial names kept apart, each labelled with its context
• Commonly confused pairs (- vs _, ` vs ', | vs ‖) are separate entries
• Row-by-row copy, for pasting into documentation

How to use

1. Enter a symbol, such as #
2. Or enter its name, such as tilde — or open the dropdown and scan it
3. The result gives the formal name, aliases and the Chinese name
4. Leave it empty to see every symbol

FAQ

Is # a "number sign" or a "hash"?

Both are correct; the difference is register. The formal name is number sign (it originally meant "number"). Hash comes from telephone keypads and punched cards and is now the usual term in programming. Pound sign means `#` in American English, but in British English "pound" is the currency symbol, so it misleads. Sharp is the musical term for a raised note, borrowed by programmers (C# is "C sharp"). So: formal documents take number sign, code comments and issue reports take hash — and all of them are listed.

Which symbols do people most often get wrong?

A few frequent ones: `~` is a tilde, not a "wave"; `|` is a pipe or vertical bar; `'` is an apostrophe, and is not the same as a single quotation mark (which is directional); `-` is a hyphen for compound words, whereas minus is the operator, and en dash and em dash are two more, different lengths; `\` is a backslash, as against the forward slash `/`. Each entry lists the confusable neighbours.

Why do some symbols have so many aliases?

Because names belong to communities: telephone keypads, typesetting, music and programming each have their own. `#` is the classic case (number sign / hash / pound / sharp). The choice here is to list them all with their context rather than pick a single "right answer", because in practice you are either reading someone else's writing or writing for someone else — and those two situations need different names.

Are the Chinese names given too?

Yes, every entry carries one (井号 for `#`, 波浪号 for `~`, 竖线 for `|`). Note that Chinese names are not standardised across regions (mainland 井号 vs Taiwan 井字號; `~` as 波浪号 or 波浪线), so the Chinese field gives the commonest form and lists the main variants.