exclamation mark

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛks.kləˈmeɪ.ʃən ˌmɑːk/
• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌɛks.kləˈmeɪ.ʃən ˌmɑɹk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

exclamation mark (plural exclamation marks)

1. The punctuation mark “!” (generally used to denote excitement, surprise or shock).
   • 2006 Feb. 3, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 1, Episode 2:

     Subject: Fire... Dear Sir-stroke-Madam: Fire. Exclamation mark. Fire. Exclamation mark. Help me. Exclamation mark. 123 Carendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you. All the best, Maurice Moss.

   • 2021, Claire Cock-Starkey, Hyphens & Hashtags, Bodleian Library, page 40:

     Traditionally, the exclamation mark has been used sparingly, especially in formal writing.

   The excessive use of exclamation marks devalues their effect, but is typical of concise genres such as cartoons, not reference works!

Synonyms

• (punctuation “!”): exclamation, exclamation point (USA); shriek (Britain); bang (USA); ecphoneme (obsolete); mark of admiration (obsolete); note of admiration (obsolete); note of exclamation (obsolete); note of interjection (obsolete); pling (computing); astonisher; screamer, interjection point (obsolete)

Translations

punctuation “!”

• Afrikaans: uitroepteken
• Arabic: عَلَامَةْ تَعَجُّب f (ʕalāmat taʕajjub), عَلَامَةْ هُتَاف f (ʕalāmat hutāf)
• Armenian: բացականչական նշան (hy) (bacʻakančʻakan nšan)
• Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܫܘܼܘܕܵܥܵܐ ܕܩܪܵܝܬܵܐ m (šuwdāʿā d-qrāytā)
• Azerbaijani: nida işarəsi
• Bashkir: өндәү билдәһе (öndəw bildəhe)
• Belarusian: клі́чнік m (klíčnik), клі́чны знак m (klíčny znak)
• Bulgarian: удивителна (bg) f (udivitelna)
• Catalan: signe d'exclamació m, signe d'admiració m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 感嘆號／感叹号 (zh) (gǎntànhào)

• Crimean Tatar: nida işareti
• Czech: vykřičník (cs) m
• Danish: udråbstegn (da) n
• Dutch: uitroepteken (nl) n
• Esperanto: krisigno
• Estonian: hüüumärk (et)
• Faroese: rópitekn n
• Finnish: huutomerkki (fi)
• French: point d’exclamation (fr) m
• Georgian: ძახილის ნიშანიplease add this translation if you can
• German: Ausrufezeichen (de) n, Ausrufungszeichen (de) n (rare), Rufzeichen (de) n (Austria)
• Greek: θαυμαστικό (el) n (thavmastikó)
• Hebrew: סימן קריאה (he) m (siman kria)
• Hungarian: felkiáltójel (hu)
• Icelandic: upphrópunarmerki (is) n
• Ido: klamopunto (io)
• Irish: comhartha uaillbhreasa m
• Italian: punto esclamativo (it) m
• Japanese: 感嘆符 (ja) (かんたんふ, kantanfu), ビックリマーク (bikkurimāku)
• Kankanaey: markan di pigsa
• Khmer: ឧទានសញ្ញា (ʼutiənĕəʼsaññaa), វិម្ហយសញ្ញា (vɨmhaʼyĕəʼsaññaa)
• Korean: 느낌표 (ko) (neukkimpyo)
• Latvian: izsaukuma zīme f
• Lithuanian: šauktukas (lt) m
• Lü: ᦺᦙᧉᦉᦐᦳᧅ (may²ṡṅuk)
• Luxembourgish: Ausruffzeechen (lb) n
• Macedonian: извичник m (izvičnik)
• Malay: tanda seru
• Malayalam: വിക്ഷേപിണി (ml) (vikṣēpiṇi), ആശ്ചര്യചിഹ്നം (āścaryacihnaṁ)
• Maori: tohu karanga, tohuhā, tohuoho
• Mongolian: анхаарлын тэмдэг (anxaarlyn temdeg)
• Norman: point d'excliamâtion m, mèrque d'excliamâtion f
• Norwegian: utropstegn (no) n
• Persian: عَلامَتِ تَعَجُّب (fa) ('alâmat-e ta'ajjob)
• Polish: wykrzyknik (pl) m
• Portuguese: ponto de exclamação (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਵਿਸਮਕ ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹ m (vismak cinnh)
• Romanian: semn de exclamare n, semn de exclamație n
• Russian: восклица́тельный знак (ru) m (vosklicátelʹnyj znak)
• Scottish Gaelic: clisg-phuing m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̀скличнӣк m, у̀звичнӣк m

  Roman: ùskličnīk (sh) m, ùzvičnīk (sh) m

• Slovak: výkričník m
• Slovene: klicaj (sl) m
• Southern Altai: кыйгылу темдек (kïygïlu temdek)
• Spanish: signo de exclamación m, signo de admiración m, signo exclamativo m, signo exclamatorio m, signo admirativo m
• Swahili: alama ya mshangao (sw)
• Swedish: utropstecken (sv) n
• Tagalog: tandang padamdam
• Thai: อัศเจรีย์ (th) (àt-sà-jee-rii), เครื่องหมายตกใจ (th) (krʉ̂ʉang-mǎai-dtòk-jai)
• Turkish: ünlem (tr), ünlem işareti (tr)
• Ukrainian: окли́чний знак m (oklýčnyj znak), знак о́клику m (znak óklyku)
• Vietnamese: dấu chấm than (vi)
• Welsh: ebychnod (cy) m, rhyfeddnod (cy) m

See also

• ¡ (inverted exclamation mark/point)
• ‼ (double exclamation mark/point)
• ‽ (interrobang)
• ⁈
• ⁉
• ﹗ (small exclamation mark/point)
• ❢ (dingbat)
• ❣ (dingbat)
• ՜ (^!) (Armenian)
• ᥄ (!) (Limbu)

Punctuation

• apostrophe ( ' ) ( ’ )
• curly brackets or braces (US) ( { } )
• square brackets or brackets (US) ( [ ] )
• colon ( : )
• comma ( , )
• dashes ( ‒ ) ( – ) ( — ) ( ― )
• ellipsis ( … )
• exclamation mark ( ! )
• fraction slash ( ⁄ )
• guillemets ( « » ) ( ‹ › )
• hyphen ( - ) ( ‐ )
• interpunct ( · )
• interrobang (rare) ( ‽ )
• brackets or parentheses (US, Canada) ( ( ) )
• full stop or period (US, Canada) ( . )
• question mark ( ? )
• quotation marks (formal) ( ‘ ’ ‚ ) ( “ ” „ )
• quotation marks (informal, computing) ( " ) ( ' )
• semicolon ( ; )
• slash or stroke (UK) ( / )
• space ( ] [ )