How to use Slash (/)

The slash (/)—sometimes called a slant, a solidus, a stroke, or a virgule—is a commonly employed symbol in the English language. Whatever you want to call this piece of punctuation, its role in English has greatly changed over time.

The word slash was first adopted into English in the late 14th century from the Middle French verb esclachier, meaning “to break,” describing the cutting movement of a weapon. The noun form of slash came into the language in the 1500s, but it was not until much later (the 1960s) that the term “slash” was used to represent the (/) symbol we know and love today.

Compare this with “virgule,” which entered English in the 1830s from the French word for “comma.” In medieval manuscripts, a virgule was often used in place of today’s comma. Chaucer notably used virgules to represent caesuras in his Middle English manuscripts. We still have traces of this usage in modern written English; line breaks in poetry and songs are denoted by the slash with a space on either side. (Learn more about the comma here.)

Slashes are commonly used to signify alternatives as in “and/or” and “his/her,” and they can also appear in place of the word “and,” as in “She’s a writer/producer/actor.” Slashes are used in abbreviations like “a/c” (account current, air conditioning), ”w/o” (without), “w/r/t” (with respect/regard to), and “c/o” (care of, cash order, certificate of origin), and they’re also used in place of the word “per” in phrases like “50 miles/hour.” Additionally, slashes separate numbers in written English as in dates and fractions.

Further uses of the slash have developed relatively recently in the technological sphere. Every URL for every website you visit contains “forward slashes,” not to be confused with “backslashes,” primarily used in programming languages. The term “backslash” entered English in the 1980s as a retronym, or a way to differentiate it from the (at that time) brand-new forward slash.

An interesting aspect of this popular symbol is its ability to be verbalized in various ways depending on the context. You can be in a “love/hate” relationship (slash not pronounced), or you can “love-slash-hate” someone (slash pronounced). But in the UK you might call that predicament a “love-stroke-hate” situation. Some English-language writers have fun with the slash, directing their readers to say it aloud by typing out the word “slash” or “stroke” where the symbol (/) would logically belong.

Like many typographic symbols, the slash has its very own special place in pop culture. Around the mid-1980s when computers started becoming more and more prevalent, the term “slash fiction” emerged in English. Slash fiction is a type of fan fiction that pairs two same-sex characters together in a romantic relationship. This genre got its name because oftentimes, the characters featured in this sort of fan fiction are separated by a (/) symbol in the title or description of the story. Pride and Prejudice fans out there—if you click on a “Bingley/Darcy” link in a Jane Austen forum, be prepared for what you are about to read.

The slash (/)—sometimes called a slant, a solidus, a stroke, or a virgule—is a commonly employed symbol in the English language. Whatever you want to call this piece of punctuation, its role in English has greatly changed over time.

The word slash was first adopted into English in the late 14th century from the Middle French verb esclachier, meaning “to break,” describing the cutting movement of a weapon. The noun form of slash came into the language in the 1500s, but it was not until much later (the 1960s) that the term “slash” was used to represent the (/) symbol we know and love today.

Compare this with “virgule,” which entered English in the 1830s from the French word for “comma.” In medieval manuscripts, a virgule was often used in place of today’s comma. Chaucer notably used virgules to represent caesuras in his Middle English manuscripts. We still have traces of this usage in modern written English; line breaks in poetry and songs are denoted by the slash with a space on either side. (Learn more about the comma here.)

Slashes are commonly used to signify alternatives as in “and/or” and “his/her,” and they can also appear in place of the word “and,” as in “She’s a writer/producer/actor.” Slashes are used in abbreviations like “a/c” (account current, air conditioning), ”w/o” (without), “w/r/t” (with respect/regard to), and “c/o” (care of, cash order, certificate of origin), and they’re also used in place of the word “per” in phrases like “50 miles/hour.” Additionally, slashes separate numbers in written English as in dates and fractions.

Further uses of the slash have developed relatively recently in the technological sphere. Every URL for every website you visit contains “forward slashes,” not to be confused with “backslashes,” primarily used in programming languages. The term “backslash” entered English in the 1980s as a retronym, or a way to differentiate it from the (at that time) brand-new forward slash.

An interesting aspect of this popular symbol is its ability to be verbalized in various ways depending on the context. You can be in a “love/hate” relationship (slash not pronounced), or you can “love-slash-hate” someone (slash pronounced). But in the UK you might call that predicament a “love-stroke-hate” situation. Some English-language writers have fun with the slash, directing their readers to say it aloud by typing out the word “slash” or “stroke” where the symbol (/) would logically belong.

Like many typographic symbols, the slash has its very own special place in pop culture. Around the mid-1980s when computers started becoming more and more prevalent, the term “slash fiction” emerged in English. Slash fiction is a type of fan fiction that pairs two same-sex characters together in a romantic relationship. This genre got its name because oftentimes, the characters featured in this sort of fan fiction are separated by a (/) symbol in the title or description of the story. Pride and Prejudice fans out there—if you click on a “Bingley/Darcy” link in a Jane Austen forum, be prepared for what you are about to read.