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Anyone know what this symbol is called in English?

19 May 2007
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I am looking to find out what this symbol is called in English. Eg this symbol "?" is called a question mark , so what is the symbol below called? Cheers.
ツ〜
 
I wish the tilde wasn't a valid URL character; if I had a dime for every service call where I had to explain that it was the "little squiggly line near the 1" and not a part of the address that had to be spelled out, I'd probably have about $37.50.

Well, no, I take that back. I wish I had a dime for every time that happened. I could use the cash right about now.
 
I'm glad I remembered this from a year or so ago as I was also curious.

It is called a "Tilde": "In languages, the tilde is a diacritical mark (~) placed over a letter to indicate a change in pronunciation, such as nasalization."

You can find the meaning of it here on Wikipedia.
 
Is it called a tilde even when used by itself and not over a letter?
There are other variations as indicated by the link, but it is still mostly called a Tilde regardless of the meaning and/or intention.
 
Is it called a tilde even when used by itself and not over a letter?
Yes, it seems so, although I have reservations like you do.

Because the European/English alphanumerical characters are half-width (from the Japanese language perspective), it seems it is also called "full-width tilde" as well. There is also the term "wavedash" denoting the full-width (zenkaku) form of the tilde.

I don't know what is the "correctest," but I evade this problem by calling the European one "tilde" and the Japanese one "nyoro." 😌
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, I looked on the google god and could not come up with anything. That really helps me out!😌
 
Hey, I like the term 'wavedash'! I might use that when talking about it on its own and not over a letter... I always think of it as a tilde when it's over the letter 'n', but you know, it never occurred to me that it's actually the same symbol as the ubiquitous curly dash!
 
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