# Is ~ (tilde) widely used and understood **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 20, 2026, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449 "2026-08-20T12:12:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/41 "2026-08-21T00:35:44Z")
In Portuguese, it’s used for nasalized vowels: ã õ. In the International Phonetic Alphabet too, it means vowel nasalization: ã ẽ ĩ õ ũ ỹ ə̃. It started life as a little N written above another letter by medieval scribes trying to save space on expensive parchment. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/42 "2026-08-21T01:02:57Z")
The Wiki article you cite doesn’t mention the AP stylebook. Informality may or may not be the reason it isn’t used. Not that it matters. Its lack of use in this context means that it is not seen by readers. Why it isn’t used is less important to the question of whether people would recognize it than its replacement by the words about or approximately. Interestingly, one of its approved uses hasn’t been mentioned yet. Apparently the Chicago Manual of Style requires a tilde as a line break indicator inside a long URL. Yet another usage that wouldn’t make “about” recognized as its meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/43 "2026-08-21T01:17:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’ve seen it used in mathematics to mean something like “approximately” (sometimes in a rigorously-defined way), and I’ve also seen it used to mean “not”, and there are probably other uses. It can be used for equivalence relations. x ~ y would mean that x and y are in the same equivalence class. But there, it’s not a prefix/unary operator. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/44 "2026-08-21T02:17:54Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The Wiki article you cite doesn’t mention the AP stylebook I don’t have access to the AP Stylebook to verify, but Google Gemini says there are explicit rules against using the tilde or plus sign as word replacements for ‘approximately’ and ‘and’. There are exceptions to allow them for brand-names, LGBTQ+, and others. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/45 "2026-08-21T02:52:05Z")
> [@CaveMike](#): > > explicit rules against using the tilde or plus sign as word replacements for ‘approximately’ and ‘and’. I was half wrong. Tilde is not _explicitly_ forbidden as approximately (in the 56th edition). There are rules in the Accent Marks section for usage in names and foreign language, but not a tilde in the Punctuation section. I think the absence makes it implicitly forbidden, but not positive. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/46 "2026-08-21T03:45:20Z")
In Japanese, it’s called a “wave dash” and has several meanings. The main one from “from” such as “16:00 ~ 18:00”, from 4 PM to 6 PM. It’s also used to elongate a vowel, which can soften a word. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/47 "2026-08-21T12:00:56Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > But I don’t know what a home attendant is. Someone who assists elderly or disabled people with personal care and chores at home ---
**Author:** ![RAWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@RAWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RAWDuke)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/48 "2026-08-21T12:11:46Z")
I always took it to mean “approximately.” But, there’s an electronic billboard near me that has had a series of messages such as: “Live is Short. Eternity isn’t. ~ God.” I’m not quite sure how to interpret that! ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/49 "2026-08-21T14:44:12Z")
One use I’ve not seen mentioned is asymptotically equal f(x) ~ g(x) means the limit of f(x)/g(x) =1. x would typically be approaching 0 or infinity known by context. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/50 "2026-08-21T22:08:00Z")
> [@RAWDuke](#): > > I’m not quite sure how to interpret that! I know this one, 'cause I do that! In that case it’s just a fancy “-”. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/51 "2026-08-21T22:35:30Z")
Either that, or it’s a message from Galactus, who is approximately God. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/52 "2026-09-02T16:58:13Z")
I just noticed that the Trump dollar uses a tilde instead of a dash in the date 1776~2026. [![](https://i.ibb.co/ycFc79Xg/td.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/ycFc79Xg/td.jpg) Is that not wrong, or do _I_ not understand the tilde? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/53 "2026-09-02T17:16:10Z")
Some countries use the tilde routinely to explicitly represent “range between” the things on either side. This was mentioned upthread. Dayum that is one disgusting coin. Ought be a picture of him mooning the world, or at least the flag, on the back. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/54 "2026-09-02T17:20:39Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Some countries use the tilde routinely to explicitly represent “range between” the things on either side. But is the US one of them? Or does that coin use furren rules? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/55 "2026-09-02T17:25:10Z")
The tilde is the least of the list of offensive things about it but this should be a different thread. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/56 "2026-09-02T17:50:33Z")
Does anyone know why the tilde was considered important enough to be included on keyboards in the first place? With limited space for characters, it’s not clear why the tilde was included when it is used so rarely. It could be that the ~ character was used in an early computing environment, which would explain why it’s found on computer keyboards. What about regular typewriters? Did the typewriters which predated computers have a ~ key? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/57 "2026-09-02T18:10:10Z")
Tildes weren’t on the old manual typewriters according to my recollection and a brief websearch. The really old ones didn’t even have a “1” key and the tilde is to the side of that. For 1 you would use a lower case L. For ! you would do an apostrophe and then backspace and do a period. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/58 "2026-09-02T18:20:32Z")
I just did a little research and some older typewriters had tildes and accent marks as “dead keys” since they were always used over letters. You would hit the key and it would print but the carriage didn’t move forward so you could then type the letter it would go over. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/59 "2026-09-02T23:32:18Z")
Just looked at the two broken IBM Selectrics that for some reason live in my basement, and neither has a ~. They do have ¼, ½, and ±. Also ¢ instead of ^. To me that means there was room to put a tilde if they thought it was important enough, but chose other symbols. Some keys can type more than two characters, so it is probably a limit of what fits on the ball rather than how many keys there are. ETA: More than two characters per key is probably a reflection of what is on the ball, rather than what the key is able to produce. Some balls make [and], others make a 1 or ±., not a single key that can do all four symbols ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449/60 "2026-09-02T23:39:16Z")
Yeah, more than two characters per key would require another key analogous to Shift (like Control and Alt on computer keyboards), and if you had that, you’d probably put three (or four) characters on every key. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tilde-widely-used-and-understood/1032449.md?page=4)