# What is the @ symbol called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388 "2005-06-08T01:45:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/1 "2005-06-08T01:45:54Z")
Sorry, someone probably asked this before, but I can’t search it. What is “@” called? ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/2 "2005-06-08T01:52:16Z")
Masterspace. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/3 "2005-06-08T01:53:33Z")
It is the “at” sign. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/4 "2005-06-08T01:55:04Z")
“at-sign”. 🙂 It gets more interesting in other languages. In Esperanto, for instance, it is sometimes called “heliko” (snail), but it is only rarely used. The [Jargon File](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/) on the [at-sign and other symbols](http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/A/ASCII.html). ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/5 "2005-06-08T02:05:06Z")
> [@Bewildebeest](#): > > Masterspace. Man that is pretty obscure. I did a search for masterspace ascii and got only about 10 results. The ones I looked at said @ was masterspace. I don’t think I have ever seen such a low turnout for a computer related search ever. It does not appear to be a typesetting convention. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/6 "2005-06-08T02:17:41Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > It gets more interesting in other languages. In Spanish it’s an “arroba,” actually a somewhat archaic unit of weight or volume. The term was revived when the @ sign became prevalent in computerese. ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/7 "2005-06-08T02:54:53Z")
Depending on your usage of the symbol, this link should assist. > **[Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions](https://www.answers.com/redirectSearch?query=commercial-at)** > > Answers is the place to go to get the answers you need and to ask the questions you want ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/8 "2005-06-08T03:00:14Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > It gets more interesting in other languages. In Esperanto, for instance, it is sometimes called “heliko” (snail), but it is only rarely used. Esperanto is rarely used, that is… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/9 "2005-06-08T05:52:23Z")
I’ve been agitating for “appersat,” by analogy with “ampersand.” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/10 "2005-06-08T07:25:38Z")
In Hebrew it’s known as a “strudel.” Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/11 "2005-06-08T07:39:55Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > In Hebrew it’s known as a “strudel.” Seriously. The a is for apple? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/12 "2005-06-08T11:14:58Z")
In Dutch it’s officially called “monkey’s tail”. I kid you not. Me: “Could you spell that e-mail adress for me, please?” Receptionist: “Sure. That’s S-M-I-T-H monkey’s tail [hotmail.com](http://hotmail.com)”. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/13 "2005-06-08T11:16:17Z")
I read some where that some peeps call it a spider-monkey. At sign works for me however. ---
**Author:** ![Tikster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@Tikster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikster)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/14 "2005-06-08T12:04:22Z")
In danish it’s “snabel-a”, snabel=elephants’ trunk. -Tikster ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/15 "2005-06-08T12:08:29Z")
Unrelated, but in elementary school I misheard a teacher and for years afterwards thought that the symbol # was called a ‘palensine’ (not ‘pound sign’.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/16 "2005-06-08T12:38:16Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > In Dutch it’s officially called “monkey’s tail”. In Polish it’s _malpa_ (with a line through the ‘l’), which means “monkey.” In Hungarian it’s _kukac_, which means “maggot” or “worm.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/17 "2005-06-08T12:44:48Z")
It’s called the “at sign” , as noted above. I one of his novels ( **The Demolished Man** , I think), Alfred Bester imagines a future society in which **@** and **&** have replaced their phonetic equivalents, so that the name “Atkinson” becomes “@kinson” and “Wiegand” becomes “Weig&”. I doubt if it would really happen, but it’s a cute literary pyrotechnic trick. Before we had internet addresses to provide a use for “@”, it used to be used to convey rates: “5 bushels of apples @ $10 each”, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/18 "2005-06-08T12:56:24Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > Man that is pretty obscure. I did a search for masterspace ascii and got only about 10 results. The ones I looked at said @ was masterspace. I don’t think I have ever seen such a low turnout for a computer related search ever. It does not appear to be a typesetting convention. Speaking as a typsetter, we always refer to it as an “at” symbol. ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Norder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@Dan\_Norder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dan_Norder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/19 "2005-06-08T13:17:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Before we had internet addresses to provide a use for “@”, it used to be used to convey rates: > > “5 bushels of apples @ $10 each”, and so on. You mean the **at sign** was used to mean **“at”**? And then email came along and totally revolutionized everything by using it to mean **“at”**? Gosh, whodathunkit. This is why I love the Straight Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388/20 "2005-06-08T13:22:14Z")
> [@drewbert](#): > > Unrelated, but in elementary school I misheard a teacher and for years afterwards thought that the symbol # was called a ‘palensine’ (not ‘pound sign’.) Or a hash sign even, I’ve heard that # is used sometimes in the US to denote £GBP but I can’t see why 😕 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-symbol-called/307388.md?page=2)